Power rates increase valley-wide

PABLO — All good things must come to an end, including the flat rate contract between Mission Valley Power and Bonneville Power Administration that has helped keep Lake County’s power rates among the lowest in the state for the last 10 years.

Starting Oct. 1, MVP will experience a 40 percent rate increase from BPA, from whom they receive over 80 percent of their power. Pursuant to a recommendation from the MVP utility board, MVP will implement a 20 percent rate increase for all rate classes, except lighting, which will experience a 15 percent increase.

For the average homeowner or renter this means a one cent per kWh increase. Bottom line: a monthly bill that is, on average, $13 higher.

According to Ralph Goode, general manger of MVP, customers should brace themselves for rates that will continue to increase, every two years, until 2028.

“We’ve been fortunate to have that long-term fixed rate,” Goode said in a meeting last Wednesday. “But now we’re going to start catching up to the rest of the northwest.” He added that the biennial increases will not be as substantial as this October’s.

Goode acknowledged that customers may be unhappy at the increase, but said there’s little that MVP can do; both BPA and MVP are non-profit organizations that must increase customer’s bills to cover the rising cost of power.

Goode said local people often ask him about harnessing the energy from Kerr Dam to power Lake County. Not possible, Goode tells them. Kerr Dam cannot produce enough energy for Lake County’s peak months.

Realizing that money is tight for many customers, MVP has taken a number of steps to ease the financial burden of the rate increases.

Within the company, Goode said, MVP is working to reduce overhead. Each time an employee retires or moves to a new job, MVP now assesses whether or not the position needs to be refilled.

Goode also pointed out that Lake County still has low rates compared to the rest of the state and the rest of the country.

“It’s a screaming deal.” he said. “We were the lowest in the state, residentially, and even with the increase we will still be among the lowest.”

MVP encourages customers to make power efficient choices and to look into budget billing if they anticipate that the rates increases could create a problem.