Lawrenceville electric rates to increase by about 3 percent

Following a review of market rates, the Lawrenceville City Council recently voted to increase electric rates. According to a city press release, the vote follows careful consideration of the increasing costs of delivering electric service “as well as the desire to maintain market rates and keep any needed increases as low and incremental as possible for residents.” The city will increase the base charge of both residential and commercial accounts by $3.00 per month and usage rates by $0.0015 per kWh after the first 650 kWh of use. This represents a 3 percent increase for a typical residential customer.

“As part of the city’s strategic plan to evaluate fees and services provided to citizens and utility customers, we conducted our annual review of utility rates,” said Chuck Warbington, City Manager. “Council maintains an expectation of staff to deliver consistent and quality service to the citizens of Lawrenceville and, in doing so, incremental increases are essential to the city’s long-term sustainable growth.”

Lawrenceville compared electric rates to those of other municipalities, Georgia Power and Electric Membership Corporations offering the same services. The city claims it still maintains competitively low market rates and, with the increase, “will remain lower than others offering those same services.”