Rates for residential, small commercial, and large commercial electric accounts are changing for all bills created after May 1, 2024.
Why Rates are Changing?
The main reason for the rate change is increasing wholesale power generation and transmission costs. These costs make up about two thirds of our operating expenses for the electric division. The wholesale rates we pay increased by about 15% last October; as a result we will spend about $1 million more in 2024. We’ve also experienced smaller increases for expenses related to building and maintaining the systems that serve you, including labor and materials.
These rate changes for residential, small commercial, and large commercial accounts will increase our revenue by about $285,000 in 2024, which will help offset the cost increases. Because of the size of the wholesale power cost increase and our expectation that wholesale prices will continue to rise, we anticipate another rate increase will be needed in the next year.
Residential and Small Commercial Changes
The Service Availability Charge for residential and small commercial accounts is increasing by $4. For single-phase service, it will increase to $23 a month. For three-phase service, it will increase to $30.50 per month.
The Energy Charge of 7.05¢ per kilowatt-hour will remain the same.
Large Commercial Account Changes
The Energy Charge is increasing by 0.25¢ per kilowatt-hour to 4.95¢.
The Demand Charge is increasing by 50¢ per kilowatt to $6.00.
For context, under our current BPA rates, we pay 6.4¢ for energy purchased beyond our allocation, and our peak demand charges range as high as $15.54 during certain months.
Our Rates are Affordable
Even with this change our residential and small commercial electric rates are lower than what many other utilities charge.
Our average residential price will be about 8.7¢ per kilowatt-hour after this increase, with all charges included. This is about 45% below the national average and about 30% below the state average. It’s also about 42% below what Pacific Power customers in Hood River pay.
We’re working hard to keep our rates affordable for you.