Kinston council approves electric rate hike

The members of the Kinston City Council approved an ordinance Monday that would increase local electric rates by about 13 percent to cover rising wholesale costs.

The measure, which will take effect Aug. 1, passed 4-1. Councilman Joe Tyson cast the dissenting vote.

Tyson's fellow council members also expressed concerns over hiking the electric rates, but approved the ordinance because the skyrocketing fuel costs that are forcing up utility costs everywhere leave them with few other options.

"It doesn't look like we have any choice, because we have to pay our bills," said Councilwoman Alice Tingle.

Councilman Jimmy Cousins urged federal officials to relax environmental regulations preventing oil drilling offshore and elsewhere to help bring down energy costs.

"I could keep on and on and on," he said. "We've got all the energy we need; we've just got to go get it."

The members of the N.C. Eastern Municipal Power Agency's rate committee issued a recommendation last week for Agency officials to raise the wholesale rate municipalities are charged to purchase power by 14 percent.

The Agency's board of directors will review the recommendation July 25, and its board of commissioners will make the final decision July 30.

The wholesale rate increase is the result of rising power production costs - the NCEMPA and Progress Energy are co-owners of four nuclear and coal power plants in the state's eastern region.

Other factors include paying back the debt municipalities took on in the 1970s to purchase those power plants, lower interest income and rising operational costs, said Kinston Public Services Director Rhonda Barwick.

Barwick also explained that the NCEMPA's members receive 70 percent of their power through the four plants. The remainder comes through supplemental purchases from Progress Energy. That company's costs are also increasing, which it is passing along to its customers.

Barwick and the members of Kinston's Utilities Advisory Commission reviewed a recommendation several hours before the council meeting Monday to raise the local kilowatt hour rate by 1.21 cents - the Agency's rate committee suggested increasing the wholesale rate by 1.12 cents per KWH. Base charges remain the same. The UAC's five current members unanimously approved the recommendation.

An average residential customer in Kinston would see a $14 increase in their bill. Commercial customers will bear a much greater burden - the largest consumers' bills will increase by at least $15,000.

David Anderson can be reached at (252) 559-1077, or danderson@freedomenc.com.

Here are the estimated monthly electric rate increases for Kinston's five categories of electric customers:

Residential:

Average KWH/month: 1,100

Average dollar increase: $14

Commercial:

Small General Service:

Average KWH/month: 1,931

Average dollar increase: $23

Medium General Service:

Average KWH/month: 24,353

Average dollar increase: $294

Large General Service:

Average KWH/month: 1.3 million

Average dollar increase: $16,598

LGS Coordinated Demand Control:

Average KWH/month: 1.2 million

Average dollar increase: $15,542

Source: Kinston Public Services Department