Electric bills continue to climb

Electric bills have been soaring the past five years, and that trend is going to continue this summer. On the heels of a 9 percent increase in April, TVA has announced a 1.5 percent rate increase to go into effect July 1. The rate increases this year mean local customers will pay roughly $10 a month more for electricity in July than they did in March. ‘We’ve heard some comments about it, but it’s almost like people are expecting it,’ said Caney Fork Electric general manager Bill Rogers of the rate increases. ‘Gas is going up, groceries are going up. Our price for materials and fuel is going up. A rate increase has almost become expected.’ Caney Fork and McMinnville Electric System have no choice but to pass along higher TVA rates directly to their customers. Caney Fork added an extra 2 percent increase of its own in April, while MES general manager Rodney Boyd says MES has not added its own rate increase in the eight years he has been there. ‘We pass TVA increases straight through and don’t add anything to it,’ said Boyd. ‘We do more with less.’ TVA says higher coal prices and drought, which hampers electricity production at hydroelectric dams, made the higher rates necessary. Despite adequate rain in Middle Tennessee this year, the South is still reeling from two summers of below-average rainfall. Several lakes, especially in East Tennessee, are at low levels. This reduces water flow and the ability to produce electricity as water goes over dams. Rising TVA rates have been all too familiar over the past five years. According to Boyd, TVA increases have raised electric bills 33.5 percent since 2003. He said from 2000 to 2003, TVA rates were stable. ‘TVA said much of the increase in April will be used to fund future generation needs,’ said Boyd. ‘When you look at the people around us, they’re maxed out too. So when TVA needs power, there’s no place to buy it. So TVA said we need to build more gas-fired plants, more nuclear plants.’ Rogers said TVA and local utilities are preparing for a massive education campaign that urges people to use electricity wisely. With growing demand, and growing costs, wasting energy hurts everyone. ‘Conserve when you can and when you have to use, make sure you use efficiently,’ said Rogers. Boyd said don’t look for prices to drop anytime soon. ‘I hope I’m wrong, but I expect it to go up another 5 percent in the next 12 months,’ he said.