Customers of Hopkinsville Electric System and Pennyrile Electric will be paying several dollars more a month for electricity, representatives of the two local utilities said Friday.
The rate increases follow an announcement that the Tennessee Valley Authority will raise its wholesale rate 5.25% beginning in October. HES and Pennyrile are among 152 TVA distributors in a seven-state region.
The increase follows a 4.5% wholesale hike that TVA adopted last year. TVA President Jeff Lash said the utility wants to avoid additional rate increases for at least three years.
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“Our objective is that this is the last rate increase for several years, but I always put a caveat with that because we don’t know exactly what will happen with regulations, interest rates or supply costs,” Lyash said in an interview with the Chattanooga Times Free Press.
The increase will raise more than $500 million in extra revenue for TVA, according to the Chattanooga newspaper’s report. TVA has approximately 10 million customers.
HES estimates the rate change will increase the monthly bill of an average residential customer by $6.48.
Pennyrile said its average monthly increase will be $7 to $8 beginning with the Oct. 1 billing. That amount includes a $3 monthly customer charge “to aid Pennyrile Electric in recovering rising fixed costs,” the press release states.
“HES understands the burden a rate increase places on our customers, and we work very hard to provide the highest quality service at the lowest cost. This increase is needed to continue to provide the level of service and reliability that our customers have come to expect,” HES General Manager Jeff Hurd said in the city utility’s press release.
Customers can use energy efficiency programs to reduce usage. Additional information is available through TVA’s Energyright program or by calling the local utilities — Pennyrile at 270-886-2555, HES at 270-887-4200.
