Starkville Utilities Department has already begun sending out some bills that charge for power used during last week’s freezing temperatures, and Director Terry Kemp said customers may be surprised by how high some of those charges are.
“We’ve seen increases in some cases twice as much as normal, so it’s considerable,” Kemp said.
Some of those bills also include extremely cold days from January and early February, he said. It’s common for power usage to increase during extremely cold weather, as residents turn up their thermostats, crank up space heaters and find other power- or gas-generating ways to keep warm.
“Usage is going to be up,” said Brandon Presley, Northern District commissioner for the Mississippi Public Service Commission. “The issue is that we’ve had an almost-record — close to a record — cold stretch during this winter storm, and so naturally electric usage and gas usage are up, which translates into an increased bill.”
The freezing temperatures were compounded by icy roads that kept many people home, where they generated energy they wouldn’t have if they’d gone to work, said Jon Turner, marketing and public relations director for 4-County Electric Power Association.
“Some folks may double or triple their bill, depending on what kind of situation they’re in,” Turner said. “… There are going to be people who are going to see energy bills, not just power bills, but energy bills of hundreds and hundreds of dollars probably, and the first reaction is, ‘I could not possibly have used this much, there’s got to be something wrong.’ … Ninety-nine percent of the time, that energy was used.”
Even residents who did not make use of extra heating devices or change their thermostats may find their bills higher than usual, because it requires more power to keep a home at a particular temperature as the outside temperature drops.
“Usage is volatile,” Columbus Light and Water Interim Director Mike Bernsen said. “People that don’t really control their thermostats, as an example, are going to see the biggest hits. So you’ve got to remember that your unit, whether it be summer or winter, is looking at the outside temperature, and it’s trying to keep whatever you’ve got it set on in here. Well, if it’s real cold outside, it’s going to run a lot more. That’s just the fact of life.”
The same thing goes for gas, Atmos Operations Manager Michelle Whittle said.
“We even had a lot of days in February, at the end of January, where the temperature was in the 40s, but it was cloudy, it was rainy, it was yucky, not a lot of sunshine,” Whittle said. “And you don’t realize how much heat you use in those times also. And then you throw that on top of the record-breaking cold that we had, and people will have some very high bills, myself included.”
Help paying bills
Utility company spokespeople said it’s hard to say how much the average individual bill will increase, since usage depends on so many factors, from the type of home to how many people live there.
“You could have the same house as me, but my consumption may be totally different than yours and we could be next-door neighbors,” Whittle said. “It depends on how many people live in the house. I’ve got a college-age daughter home with me right now living upstairs, and if she wasn’t there, our consumption would look a lot different than it would if she was not.”
Kemp added customers’ bills could go up if they used less efficient heating sources like space heaters.
The good news is Golden Triangle residents will not see the kind of bills in the tens of thousands of dollars, the way residents of Texas are currently seeing after last week’s winter storms.
“The pricing horrors that people have seen in Texas, with $18,000 and $20,000 bills, is not going to be the case in Mississippi because we have a system in which our utility companies are regulated by the Public Service Commission,” Presley said. “… We’re not operating in a deregulated market like Texas where customers are paying whatever the cost of energy that day particularly is. When demand went up, the price of electricity and gas in Texas went through the roof and that, coupled with an increased usage, led to what you’re seeing in the bills.”
In Mississippi, he said, PSC regulates the market and stabilizes the prices.
Presley added there is help for low income residents who need extra time or money to pay their utility bills. Over the next week, PSC will be posting information on how customers can receive utility bill assistance.
“Right now if they go to the Public Services Commission’s website, there’s a tab for utility bill assistance and it will give them instructions on where to go for programs such as the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, LIHEAP,” Presley said.
SUD, 4-County and Atmos also urged customers and members to reach out to the companies if they need help paying their bills when they receive them, though Whittle specified residents should contact Atmos as soon as they receive their bills, rather than when their gas is about to be disconnected for non-payment.
Kemp said in some cases, SUD can offer extensions or connect customers with organizations that will help them pay their bills.
“(The bills are) going to be much higher than normal,” he said. “We’re going to be sensitive to that, and we encourage people, when their bills do come out, to look at it and if they see an issue, a problem with making payments, contact us. Maybe take advantage of those extensions.”
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 37 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
