Rate increases proposed for Marietta power customers

By Tucker McQueen

For the AJC

Power, water and sewer customers in Marietta can expect to pay higher fees next year even though a hotter-than-normal summer helped boost the utility's reserve funds. The city will consider raising rates at a meeting Dec. 8, with higher fees starting in January.

Under the proposal, customers using 4,000 gallons of water and 1,000 kilowatts of electricity each month would pay $9.32 more a month for utilities.

Utility customers will have a chance before the vote to weigh in on the proposed rate increases at a town hall meeting 6 p.m. Monday at Marietta City Hall, 205 Lawrence St.

Mayor Steve Tumlin said the public meeting will also allow the city to explain to utility customers why their rates are going up.

“It was unusually cold last winter and hot during the summer, so we have reserves that we don’t always have,” Tumlin said. “We want to help our citizens with costs, but we don’t want to jeopardize the city's needs in the future."

Marietta Power & Water took in $7.1 million in income between July and October, $4.8 million more than for the same period a year earlier, general manager Bob Lewis said. A colder winter last year also helped the utility's income. Lewis said the company also has made significant revenue in the past selling electricity on the wholesale market.

The utility is seeking the rate increases, Lewis said, because it is facing an $8.8 million hike in fees next year to pay utility wholesalers, including $7.9 million for electricity to MEAG, a public power company. Marietta Power & Water also expects to need funds for infrastructure improvements. Marietta spends $8 million to $10 million in a year to repair electrical wires and poles, as well as water and sewer lines.

Marietta Power & Water, which has $31 million in reserve, is considering using $2 million to $3 million of that money to offset the rate increase to customers. The city-owned utility has 45,000 power customers and 18,000 water accounts. (The latter number is lower because multifamiliy units have fewer meters.)

Lewis said the city’s power board requires Marietta Power & Water to keep $21 million to $22 million in reserve.

“We use these reserves like a savings account,“ he said. "The money we bank is a cushion for the bad times.”