Seattle City Light filed their rate case last month proposing a 13.1% average increase effective January 2012. The biggest driver appears to be debt service on their transmission system upgrades. They're also implementing new conservation programs that will add about $2/month to residential bills. Has anyone else reviewed the filing? I'm trying to understand the allocation between customer classes. Commercial seems to be taking a bigger hit than residential which is unusual for municipal utilities.
Anyone tracking Seattle City Light rate case? Proposed 13% increase
Haven't seen the Seattle filing but TVA just announced they're looking at rate adjustments next year too. Municipal utilities seem to be under more financial pressure lately with all the infrastructure investments required. The conservation program costs are interesting - most utilities I've seen try to recover those through separate riders rather than base rates. Wonder if Seattle is trying to avoid the political heat of a new surcharge.
Alabama Power here in Huntsville territory is dealing with similar transmission cost pressures. The 13% increase sounds high but might be reasonable if they've deferred rate adjustments for several years. Municipal utilities often try to avoid annual rate increases and then have to do larger adjustments less frequently. Any word on when Seattle's last rate increase was? That context would help evaluate whether 13% is justified.