Mineral Wells joins Encore steering committee and suspends utility rate increase pending review

The Mineral Wells City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to join a coalition of cities challenging a proposed Encore Electric Company LLC rate increase and to suspend the company’s July 31 effective date so legal and consulting experts can review the request. City staff told the council Encore filed a comprehensive base rate application on June 26 that staff characterized as seeking roughly $834,000,000 in additional transmission and distribution revenue — an amount the presenter said represented about a 13% systemwide revenue increase, a 12.3% increase in residential rates and a 51% increase in street-lighting rates. The presenter said the company’s proposal would raise the average residential bill by about $7.90 per month. The council first approved a resolution to participate in the steering committee of cities served by Encore and to pay a one-time membership fee of $0.11 per capita (the presenter estimated the fee for Mineral Wells would be less than $1,800). The council then approved a second resolution suspending Encore’s July 31 effective date and authorizing cooperation with the steering committee to retain legal and consulting services, negotiate with Encore and, if necessary, pursue litigation or appeals. Both votes were 6-0. City staff explained that the steering committee is coordinated by the City of Arlington and that the coalition’s legal work is handled by the law firm identified in the meeting packet as Lloyd Gosling. Staff emphasized the membership fee does not cover attorney fees; those are typically recovered from the utility under the regulatory process, according to the presenter. The suspension resolution is standard practice to give cities time to evaluate an electric utility’s rate case and to preserve legal options. Councilmembers and staff discussed how the street-lighting increase would affect the city budget. Public works figures presented to council showed the city budgets about $225,000 annually for street lights and had spent about $139,000 so far; with a 51% increase staff said the city’s expense for street lights could approach roughly $350,000. The council’s actions preserve the city’s ability to participate actively in the regulatory review of Encore’s rate request and to seek adjustments through the steering committee’s retained counsel. The city did not adopt any final position on the merits of Encore’s requested increases; the resolution approved temporarily suspends the proposed effective date to allow analysis and coordinated legal response.