[env-trinity] TPUD to consider surcharge, rates

[Tom Stokely]

http://www.trinityjournal.com/news/local/article_c94ab54e-ca18-11e5-8002-1b197213583d.html
TPUD to consider surcharge, rates
By AMY GITTELSOHN The Trinity Journal | Posted: Wednesday, February 3, 2016 6:15 amWith above-average snow in the mountains and rainfall actually substantial enough to cause some landslides, Trinity Public Utilities District customers may be anticipating lower bills for hydroelectric power from the district.To the contrary, TPUD General Manager Paul Hauser said due to increasing costs not only will he recommend to the TPUD board that the drought surcharge remain in place, but the district will also need to look at some kind of rate increase in the near future.The drought surcharge is currently 1.3 cents per kilowatt hour, so for a household using 1,000 kilowatt hours in a month it adds $13 to the bill. It brings in approximately $1.3 million annually.As it is currently worded, the district’s drought relief surcharge tariff says that while the surcharge is triggered by back-to-back dry years, it is to be reviewed each April and automatically lifted after the first above-average water year for the North State, as determined by the state Department of Water Resources. If the season continues to be a wet one, the drought surcharge will be lifted in a few months under those parameters.However, Hauser said he will be recommending changes for the board to vote on and is working up better criteria for the drought surcharge.“There’s just no way we can remove the drought surcharge this year,” he said, adding that while the rainfall may seem impressive, “anybody that goes out to the lake, it still looks really bad.”Although the lake is still low after four “mega-drought years,” Hauser noted, “If they get a lot of rain they’re going to release a lot of water” to the Trinity River.The low lake and higher river releases mean less hydroelectricity which raises the price the district pays for power from the federal Western Area Power Administration.Already, Hauser noted, the district this year is taking more than $2 million out of its reserves.The district reported its annual power costs have escalated from $2,131,000 in 2012 to $3,975,000 today, an increase of more than 86 percent.The drought isn’t the only issue affecting the TPUD’s costs, and Hauser expects the district will have to look at some type of rate increase as well.A TPUD news release cited high fixed costs due to the county’s rugged landscape in an area larger than the state of Delaware. The TPUD has more than 700 miles of power lines winding through the county, and roughly 500 of those miles are on federal lands surrounded by narrow tree clearance right-of-ways.“Accessing these remote lines and poles during outages, and even during normal maintenance, makes our maintenance costs some of the highest in the state,” the TPUD said.While the district is dedicated to mitigating these costs for customers, “it is equally as important to maintain the financial health of the district so that we can provide electricity for decades to come,” the news release states. “Given the continuous rising costs, it has become clear that soon the cost of providing power to our customers will outrun income.”In upcoming months, the TPUD will hold public forums to present its plan to cover the increasing cost of electricity and maintenance.The TPUD board is next slated to meet on Thursday, Feb. 11, at 2 p.m. at the TPUD community room at 26 Ponderosa Lane in Weaverville. The agenda is not available yet.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://www2.dcn.org/pipermail/env-trinity/attachments/20160205/bab0ab42/attachment.html>