Stroud City Council members discussed the results of the CH Guernsey rate study, during the monthly city council meeting.
Justin Proctor, the Managing Consultant for CH Guernsey, showed the council a way the city could change its rates to recover some of the costs of providing electricity.
The current cost to the city to provide service to each consumer is $42.15, which includes the lines, poles, employees, etc.
City manager Bob Pearman said the city can’t recover every penny it takes to get electricity to its customers.
For residential, the current base cost is $7.84. In phase one, it would be increased to $12 and in phase two, it would be increased to $17.
For commercial and commercial all electric, the current base cost is $20.85.
In phase one, it would be increased to $25 and in phase two, it would be increased to $30.
Pearman said the rate change would be revenue neutral, which means there would be no net change to the amount of incoming revenue.
Although no action was made, Pearman said they would increase the base rate, but decrease the kilowatt rate
“We’re just changing the way we’re recovering the cost,” he said.
“It’s better for us to recover those cost by the base rate and not by the kilowatt.”
This rate study was approved in February of last year and cost $18,000. GRDA paid for $10,000 of the study.
“We wanted to find out where we’re at on our utility rate,” Pearman said.
“We wanted to see where we compare with our neighbors.”
Other actions made by board members include:
Approval of the Consent Agenda including the minutes of the Feb. 10 and Mar. 2 meeting, payment of purchase orders and claims, special purchase orders and claims and the financial statement.
Approval of the Right-of-Way Easement at the north end of the Stroud Municipal Airport to Central Rural Electric Cooperative, a cooperative corporation.
Approval to approve March 30 – April 3 as cleanup week.
Tabled the request to give Stroud Chamber of Commerce exclusive use of Main Street during the Stroud Wine Festival. Board members decided to wait because they want a layout of the street plan the Chamber has in mind.