Columbia City council and members of the Water & Light Advisory Board decided to hold off on a formal electric rate proposal at a pre-council work session. The board will take it back up Wednesday to provide city staff with their input.
The proposed rate structure would increase base charges by an average of 6.9 percent.
David Switzer, a member of the Water & Light Advisory Board, said he agreed with the consultant’s raise in electricity rates, which would help meet the city’s revenue goals of covering $8.3 million. Switzer said the board cannot evaluate the assumptions city staff have made about the rates without the use of a measuring tool such as Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), which the city is working on gathering data from.
“I think our number one priority is meeting the financial obligations of people,” he said. “And so my prior was to defer to the experts and consultants because they know more about this than me.”
Sixth Ward councilperson Betsy Peters said she was on board with the consultant’s rate increase, so long as council works to help lower-income individuals pay their bills with subsidies.
First Ward councilperson Pat Fowler said she received emails from resident concerned that proposed structure would unfairly charge low-income residents. She said she wants to see more data about residential users before she makes a decision on the rate increases.
“I wish that we were looking at the data that shows us where the average residential customers in non-energy-efficient residential units enter into higher kilowatt hours,” Fowler said.
Mayor Barbara Buffaloe said that city staff can propose a rate increase that would take effect in July pending approval from the Water & Light Advisory Board and more data on how this increase would impact lower-income individuals.
“They (council and community members) want to make sure that we have a fair rate,” Buffaloe said.
David Sorrell, director of utilities, said the city is still on track to implement the rate increase by July, despite the outcome of the session.
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Utility Assistance
City staff requested an additional $300,000 as part of the second quarter budget amendments. They announced that the city has $97,329 left in funding for utility assistance.
Sorrell said in his presentation that there is not enough funding to provide assistance through the fiscal year.
Buffaloe said there was a program a few years ago that evaluated the energy efficiency of individual residences. She said this might be a good way to measure how much assistance is needed for residents.
Transmission Improvements
Relocating and raising the Hinkson substation out of a flood plain was among the improvements discussed at the meeting.
MU recently decided they wanted to use city transmission lines. The lines as they are now are not sufficient to support that request, Sorrell said.
Council also provided input on an agreement with energy company Ameren to provide a second transmission line into the substation that would allow for MU to use city lines without running the risk of shutting off lights for other residents.
Buffaloe said city staff should speak with Ameren about the additional transmission line, but should also think about future plans should that line be implemented.
“We would at least like some answers to investigating the tie with Ameren,” Buffaloe said.