Tacoma committee forwards utility fee adjustments for Tacoma Water and Tacoma Power to full council

The Government Performance and Finance Committee on March 4 voted to forward proposed amendments to Tacoma Public Utilities’ fee schedules and related Tacoma Municipal Code language to the full City Council for consideration.

Tacoma Water and Tacoma Power staff told the committee the changes are intended to recover additional operating costs from the customer groups that cause those costs rather than from all retail customers. Ryan Cox, assistant division manager for Tacoma Water’s customer experience team, said, “we determined that the proposed TPU policy changes are necessary to collect the additional expenses from the customer group that initiated the charges rather than collecting from all of the retail customers.” Heather Pennington, Tacoma Water superintendent, and Chad Edinger, electrical services manager with Tacoma Power, joined Cox for the briefing.

Why it matters: The utilities said the package will better align cost recovery with cost causation and stabilize retail rates. Tacoma Water estimates the revisions would raise about $1,400,000 annually; Tacoma Power estimated roughly $650,000 in additional annual revenue if the fee adjustments are approved. Staff recommended the committee move the proposal to council with an effective date of…