With summer comes higher power bills. Although the area’s power supplier, the Tennessee Valley Authority, has not yet announced rate increases for the summer, Lowndes County residents still can expect to pay higher utility bills.
TVA has implemented a seasonal rates program to better reflect the cost to supply power at different times of the year.
“The average cost for power for (4-County Electric Power Association) members is about $5 a day,” 4-County Director of Public Relations Jon Turner said. “That’s all the power they want for 24 hours. You can barely buy one gallon of gas for $5 ; you can’t see a movie or buy dinner, you can’t even hire someone for an hour at minimum wage. Electricity is still one of the best bargains around.”
“That being said, power use will go up during the heat and that means higher bills,” he continued. “People need to watch their thermostats, keep them as high as they can and really think about their usage. 4-County members can see their daily usage online by starting an online account. That’s a great way to track their energy use. They can also get that information from our customer service representatives, if they don’t have access to the Internet.”
Turner said the county’s largest power distributor will soon be offering a pre-pay program for its customers.
“This program will let members pay ahead for their power use, like putting gas in their car,” he explained. “They will no longer get a traditional bill at the end of the month, but will make payments when it suits them, as long as they keep a positive credit on their account. We are beginning to pilot the program now and hope to have it available system wide by fall.”
The Columbus Light and Water Department, which serves more than 12,000 customers, also purchases its power from TVA and will be using the same seasonal rates plan this summer.
TVA Chief Financial Officer John Thomas briefed his board in April on slowing power sales and revenues. Thomas attributed the decline to unusually mild weather and a slowly recovering economy. Preliminary figures show operating revenues were $5.193 billion for the first six months of the fiscal year, with a net income of $347 million below plan. TVA expects to end Fiscal Year 2012 with revenues between $500 million and $600 million below plan.
“TVA’s sales are way down and the board is going to discuss ways to recoup this money,” CLW Manager Todd Gale said. “One of the ways could be a rate increase down the line. But they have not announced any plans to increase rates in the immediate future.”
Jeff Clark was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
You can help your community
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 41 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
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 41 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
