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City explains new budget-billing method for power; says retail rates unchanged
Summary
City staff told the commission the power authority moved to a yearly-balance basis and the city set a new budget-billing payment of $224,000 per month; staff said underlying retail rates have not changed but purchase-power adjustments can vary by consumption.
A city official explained changes to the municipality's power-budget billing arrangement and told residents the move should not be read as a retail-rate increase.
"So right now, we just set the new, budget billing amount to 224,000 a month," the city official said, explaining the power authority moved to a yearly-balance basis and that the city now evaluates budget billing annually instead of every six months.
Staff said the change governs how the city pays the power authority and that customer-level power rates have not been altered. However, the purchase-power-adjustment line item on individual bills will vary based on consumption: higher users will see proportionally higher adjustments. Staff encouraged residents with questions to come to city hall so office staff can walk them through account-specific billing cycles and comparisons to last year's usage.
The official said the city will continue periodic reviews of the budget billing amount and will inform residents of options for account-level review.
Next steps: residents who are concerned about individual bills were invited to schedule a review with city staff.
