Electric rate increase proposed

The increase in Commerce will amount to about .468 cents per kilowatt hour, — an increase of $4.68 per 1,000 kwh.

The issue will be on the council’s agenda when it meets Monday night at 6:30 at the Commerce Civic Center. It highlighted this past Monday’s work session.

The rate increase is not a surprise, although it is about a third less than originally projected by city manager Clarence Bryant, who was not at Monday’s meeting following knee replacement surgery that morning.

What’s happening, Bryant had explained in a prior meeting, is that coal-burning power plants are being taken offline so new air pollution control equipment required by the federal government can be installed.

While those plants are down, utility companies must go to the open market to replace the lost electricity, paying a premium price.

Part of the rate hike is to recove the cost attributed to buying power on the open market, Wascher said, part is the cost attributed to paying for the new equipment.

To deflect criticism, the city will add a new “power cost adjustment” line item its utility bills showing the cost. The city has always had a power cost adjustment component in its rate structure, but in recent years it has not been displayed on the bills. The rate hike will bring the total power cost adjustment to about $10.38 per 1000 kwh.