PPS board to tackle rate plan, free audits BY DAVID ZOELLER dzoeller@paducahsun Paducah Power Systems rate recovery plan and a program to provide no- or low-cost energy audits to residential customers are among topics up for discussion at Mondays board meeting. The board is expected to approve a resolution which reaffirms its commitment to the rate recovery plan presented Nov. 12 and reflects its intent not to seek Chapter 9 bankruptcy relief as an option. The plan calls for freezing the power cost adjustment, currently elevating customers bills, and then lowering it next July, through a reduction of debt service costs and net purchase power costs. The utilitys current power rates are believed to be the highest in the state. According to Mark Crisson, interim general manager, Paducah Power has been told by financial and legal authorities that it is not a candidate for bankruptcy because the company is solvent. Mondays 1 p.m. meeting is open to the public. As it did at its last meeting, the board will ask members of the public who wish to address the board to sign in and limit their comments to three minutes. PPS programs designed to help customers include free home energy checks and the energy audit program. According to Crisson, the audits provide more detailed information on how to save energy. While they typically can cost between $250-$550, the utility is looking for ways to provide them to residential customers at little or no cost. The PPS voted in April 2013 to add a power cost adjustment to its kilowatt hour rates. The adjustment fluctuates and, according to PPS, is tied directly to the performance of its principal energy supplier, Prairie State Energy Campus in southern Illinois. Residential customers bills have three main components: a customer charge, costing each customer the same amount; a base kilowatt hour rate; and the power cost adjustment. The effective rate customers pay for power per kwh is a combination of the base rate and PCA. The PCA was first added to bills in November of 2013, when it was .8125 cents per kwh. It was increased to 1.250 cents/kwh in December 2013 and raised to 3.590 cents/kwh in February 2014, due largely to problems with the performance of Prairie State. The PCA was lowered to 2.150 cents/kwh last July. The board has expressed the intent to keep the PCA at its current rate (2.150 cents/kwh) until next July, when it projects, based on the rate recovery plan, it can lower the PCA by 76 percent to .52 cents/kwh.
Posted on: Sun, 07 Dec 2014 14:45:56 +0000
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