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Concord MLP presents operating forecast; staff flags a $1.7M shortfall and asks board to proceed with rates work
Summary
Staff presented a 2025 operating forecast projecting positive net income for electric and broadband but also identified a $1.7–$1.8 million shortfall that would translate to roughly a one-cent (about 5%) residential rate increase; the board gave staff a sense-of-board to proceed but requested clarifications on two anomalous line items before a formal vote.
CMLP staff presented the operating forecast and accompanying cost-of-service analysis that will inform next month’s rate presentation.
Jason (director) summarized the forecasted financial position: a projected combined net income of about $1.3 million for the electric side and about $300,000 for broadband, and a DPU-formula rate of return for 2025 near 1.8%. At the same time, staff said a preliminary cost-of-service review showed an additional revenue need of about $1.7–$1.8 million compared with current collections.
Laura (staff) translated that shortfall into residential terms: collecting the additional $1.8 million on an equal basis across customers would be roughly a one-cent increase per kilowatt-hour — about a 5% change off a roughly 20¢/kWh residential rate. She also explained that the shortfall includes approximately $1 million set aside as a return on rate base (forecasted net income used to cover debt service and inflationary replacement costs).
Board members asked detailed questions about assumptions driving O&M costs (notably a large increase in tree-trimming and a jump in a ‘‘customer service and informational’’ line for 2024) and about overtime or mutual-aid assumptions embedded in the line-worker forecast. Jason and staff said they would check and correct any anomalies before formalizing numbers for the cost-of-service model.
Rather than take a formal vote, the board gave staff a sense-of-board to use the forecast for rate-setting work and asked staff to provide clarifications quickly; staff will use any corrected numbers in the cost-of-service model before the December rate vote.
Next steps: staff to resolve two flagged anomalies (customer-education/consumer-education line and line-worker overtime/mutual-aid assumptions), finalize the December 4 rate presentation and return for formal action when clarifications are complete.
