City proposes small residential electric rate hike

The new rate schedule would increase the city’s net income from electricity sales by about $21,000 a year, said John Lansing, of the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia (MEAG), which buys and generates electricity on behalf of Commerce and other member cities. The overall increase is less than one percent.

Residential customers will pay 1.9 percent more for electricity if the rates are adopted, but most of that will come on the bills of high-end users of more than 2,000 kilowatt hours a month, noted city manager Clarence Bryant.

“Those using 600 to 700 kwh a month, and we have a lot, we leave a lot (of money) on the table to protect our residential customers,” Bryant said.

The largest change in residential rates occurs with customers who use 3,000 kwh a month. They could see their bills increase by $45, Lansing explained.

The structure also moves the city’s dual-season structure from five months of “summer” rates and seven of slightly lower “winter” rates to six months of each. Under the proposed schedule, someone using 750 kwh during the winter months would pay $68.50, compared to $69 under the current schedule; and using the same amount in the summer months would pay $74.50, compared to $72.25 currently.

Residents who use 500 or less kwh per month would see no changes.

The adjustment is the city’s first in four years, according to Lansing, who noted that one of the goals was to relate profit rates in each class of customers to the cost of providing service.

“Georgia Power has raised its rates 40 percent over the past four years,” he added.