Inevitable electric rate increase for Washington may not be as much

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April 27, 2009

By Nate Smith, Staff Writer The Washington Times-Herald Mon Apr 27, 2009, 10:30 PM EDT

Washington electric users could save a dollar from its inevitable electric rate increase.

At Monday’s City Council meeting, a second rate study was revealed that would cut the city’s rate increase around three percent.

That decrease of the proposed rate increase will result in an average family of four, using 1,000 kilowatts an hour, paying about $92.82 a month for electricity.

That rate has gone down from an estimated $94.19 a month. Currently, a family of four is paying $85.83.

John Sievers with accountants H.J. Umbaugh and associates said the calculations for this rate study were different because the added cost of purchasing electricity was factored in. In January, the Indiana Municipal Power Agency raised the cost of electricity by almost 14 percent.

“We made the changes that were identified to us and the increases were about 8.15 percent,” Sievers said.

Last month, the council voted down a proposed 11 percent rate increase by a 4-3 margin. The reason for the defeat was an added $1.1 million pricetag for automated readers.

The readers were taken out of the capital improvement budget, but two trucks for the meter readers were added to the budget, around $36,000 total. Sievers said in total, the city saved $212,800

Sievers told the council that with a $14 million total budget, cutting $216,200 in total would result in a small decrease.

“I am not saying that $200,000 is insignificant, but I am here to point out mathematically that taking out $216,000 only reduces the rate 1.6 percent,” Sievers said.

Mayor Larry Haag said the city is doing the best it can to “keep the lights on.”

“We keep those vehicles (meter readers) on the road. That’s fine if that’s what everyone wants to do,” Haag said. “We spent a lot of money in the last five weeks for this.”

Although no money was spent in the rate study, there was no ordinance for a rate increase. Haag said Monday’s presentation was for study only and an ordinance would come at a future meeting.

The council did approve four ordinances on the utility Monday, three of them were adding a level billing program to the electric, water and sewer utility. The fourth ordinance was a technical clarification of electric service.

Two more utility ordinances were introduced for meter reading. According to the ordinance, if a meter reader cannot read either a water or electric meter at a house, the owner has 30 days to remedy the problem or the service will be turned off.

“What we provide here is water meters have to be accessible,” City Attorney Jeff Norris said. “The purpose of the ordinance is if someone has a locked gate or a dog in the yard. This deals with those situations.”

Those ordinances will be voted on at the next council meeting on May 11.

In other business:

NUISANCE ORDINANCE

The council unanimously voted for a revised nuisance ordinance Monday.

Although there was not a new ordinance in effect until Monday’s passage, the threat of one — with fines up to $500 — may have cleaned some properties up. Building commissioner Chris Wimmenauer said several properties have been cleaned since the ordinance was introduced two weeks ago.

“It’s working gentleman,” Haag said. “They are understanding the rules and are following as well as possible.”

Because there are fines attached to the ordinance, it will be published for review.

RAIL FEST

The council voted 7-0 to close Depot Street from First Street to Meridian Street on May 15 and 16 for Rail Fest. Vince Sellers from the Daviess County Historical Society asked for Main Street from SR 57 to First Street be closed, but rescinded the request after an objection from Carla McAtee, a business owner on Main. McAtee said the businesses would like it better if the road were open.

“(An event in the past) worked better when the parking lot was just closed,” McAtee said.

Sellers said he was under the impression that business owners were for the street closing for the return on Sidewalk Days on Main Street. The council said Sellers could come back if he had a consenus for closing Main Street.

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