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Fayetteville staff: SWEPCO rate increase cut in half in settlement; city gets seat at coal‑plant retirement study
Summary
Environmental staff told the council a settlement in the SWEPCO rate case reduced a requested 27.3% residential increase to about 13.8%; the utility also agreed to fund a study that could include early retirements for Flint Creek and to include clean energy procurement commitments. Staff also updated a municipal solar array expected to provide 3.77 MW to the city.
Fayetteville’s environmental director reported progress in the city’s intervenor work in SWEPCO’s rate case and gave the council an update on municipal energy usage and a shared solar project.
Peter Nierngarten said the city objected to SWEPCO’s roughly 27.3% residential rate increase request (about $31 million, partly for Flint Creek coal‑plant upgrades). “The result of that settlement discussion is a reduction in that rate increase…basically cut in half at 13.8%,” he said, calling the settlement good news for residents.
Nierngarten also said SWEPCO agreed to fund a Southwest Power Pool resource‑retirement study that will include two early‑retirement dates for Flint Creek (2030 and 2035), where the current planned retirement is 2038. He said the city will be able to participate in scoping for that study and that the utility committed to procuring clean energy in its next all‑source solicitation for supply covering the city’s load pocket.
On municipal energy use, staff reported combined September utility expenditures of $297,386 (a roughly 4% increase from Sept. 2024) and year‑to‑date utility expenditures of just over $2.7 million (≈6% increase). Fleet fuel expenses rose sharply in September to about $143,000 (a 34% increase year over year), with gasoline up 58% and diesel up 13%.
Nierngarten also updated councilors on a ~6.5 MW ground‑mounted solar array near Nashville in which Fayetteville will receive about 3.77 MW (expected to offset ~6.5 million kWh annually). He said the city’s share is expected to come online and begin offsetting SWEPCO consumption on Jan. 1, and the project’s 25‑year savings were estimated at about $7 million.
What’s next: a public hearing on the rate increase will be held at Northwest Arkansas Community College next Thursday at 6 p.m.; the PSC docket and public comment portal (docket 25003) are available online for residents who wish to comment.
