City Light electric rates …

[FiredUp]

Now that the election madness is almost over … The Seattle City Council is considering raising electricity rates AGAIN. Last year the council raised the rates by 13.5 percent, then tacked on another “temporary” surcharge midyear (that is still in effect), and now they are considering raising rates 4.3 and 4.2 percent over the next two years. This is NOT the time to do this to small businesses, or to homeowners. Let the council know what you think. It’s not to late.

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[redblack]

you should read this table:

http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/epm/table5_6_a.html

washington state has the lowest electric rates in the country – through all sectors. our industrial sector only pay 3.8 cents/kwh. commercial rates are identical to residential rates. residential rates are 8.3 c/kwh.

higher rates are probably reflected by the fact that city light buys electricity from BPA and other out-of-state sources, which are facing tough economic times and budget cuts.

however, something like 85% of our power comes from hydroelectric, which is why it’s so cheap.

the next closest low rate is west virginia, which gets over 80% of its electicity from dirty old anthracite coal.

so who has you all fired up about electric rates?

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[JustSarah]

Yeah, I have a hard time getting fired up about this when I know our electric rates are so low compared to everywhere else. An average bill for my 1,050 sq. ft. condo is $45. That’s for two months of service. From what I know from someone close to me who worked in Seattle City Light’s finance department for close to 25 years, they’re a pretty lean agency already. If costs really are increasing for them, they need to pass the cost on to the consumer.

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[Carson]

If anything, tell the council I support a modest increase. Maybe to start a build out for TV/cable when the Comcast contract expires….hey, I can hope can’t I?

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[redblack]

sorry, kentucky is next lowest, not W VA. (they also burn coal.)

back to the topic,

http://www.seattle.gov/light/accounts/rates/docs/2010/Oct/2010Oct_rsc.pdf

interesting. with city light residential service, the first 16 kwh/day are rated at 4.62 cents/kWh. if you use over 16 kWh/day, it’s billed at 9.58 cents/kWh. still pretty cheap by national standards. even with a 13.5% increase, it’s cheaper than any other major metro area in the u.s.

furthermore, medium general service (probably what most small businesses use) is 5.7 cents/kWh.

large general service, peak hours (6 a.m. – 10 p.m.): 6.49 cents/kWh.

large general service, non-peak hours and holidays: 4.38 cents/kWh.

high demand, peak hours: 6.19 cents/kWh, + 0.95 cents/kW.

high demand, non-peak hours: 4.19 cents/kWh, + 0.25 cents/kW.

so how long until someone uses this .6 – 1.2 cents/kWh increase to suggest privatizing city light? ask any californian what privatization of utilities means. they also used to have cheap power.

sorry, but this is one lily i won’t gild. we have it dirt cheap – and it’s even better for business! – and if they want or need another 13.5%, send me the bill. i have a check waiting.

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[redblack]

good point, carson. let’s make it a 20% increase and run comcast out on a rail.

or at least force them to compete honestly.

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[Carson]

I am not sure how to look up the current contract, but I would love to know when its up. I sense thats one of those back room deals that Comcast doesn’t ever want to see the light of day. Just auto-renew..

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[FiredUp]

Glad you are feeling so generous, RedBlack.

;-)

It is a question of running the utility as efficiently as possible. Competitive electric rates are critical for bringing businesses and jobs.

Small businesses, not to mention plain old homeowners, are reeling from big increases in water/sewer/garbage rates on top of electricity rates.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2013134881_guest12cohen.html

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[redblack]

no, carson, it’s actually an open process, but comcast has more money than our citizenry has time to care. i remember the last time the city was looking for bids (but i don’t remember exactly when). i wrote city hall and the newspapers imploring them not to give comcast a sweetheart deal.

i lost. :)

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[redblack]

again, fired up, we have the lowest rates in the country for a major metro area – even with a 13.5% increase. (which is inaccurate, by the way. the opinion piece you cited states many times that the increase would be “almost 10 percent.”)

if businesses leave, it isn’t because of electric rates.

edit: and the utility is already run as “efficiently as possible.” it has no profit, and no CEO’s exorbitant salary to pay.

maybe you’re fired up because line workers are IBEW?

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[metrognome]

Carson — go to http://www.seattle.gov/cable/ and you can find the ordinance establishing the current 10-yr Comcast stranglehold pretty easily. We will be halfway through it at the end of Jan 2011.

SarahScoot — $45 for two months? Do you have electric heat? If so, you must be in a new bldg and sandwiched between others who keep you warm by cranking up their thermostats.

If anyone wants details on the city budget: http://www.seattle.gov/council/budget/

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[JustSarah]

Metrognome – I am in a fairly new building (<15 years) and it’s on Avalon, with my unit facing another building, so we are well-insulated. Also on the fourth of five floors, which helps. Have yet to need the heat, but I’ve only lived there since Jan. of this year, so we’ll see what this crazy winter brings. :-)

I should also say that I had comparably low bills in my last rental, though it was also >400 sq. ft. smaller.

The nightmare was living in a very cute vintage WS apartment – the address of which will not be named – that also had the large vintage windows (i.e., single-pane) and poor to nonexistent insulation. I was there for the Dec. ’08 snow, and the bills from that winter were sky-high. And that still didn’t make the apartment “warm,” just “no ice forming on the insides of the windows.”

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[metrognome]

SarahScoot — I’m in a 25 yr old condo and I’m above the unheated garage. Our building is well-designed for noise separation from other units (I only share one wall with a neighbor) but the result is that 3 sides are open to the weather. Unfortunately, we will be doing a $1mil project next year to repair wet rot, etc.; we will be replacing all windows, so hopefully my 2011 and beyond CL bills will be lower (but not enough to compensate for my portion of the project.)

I used to live in a duplex on Beach Drive; stunning scenery but it was built from overages in nearby buildings put up by the same contractor … you could feel the breeze coming in around the windows during a storm.

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[FiredUp]

Good insulation and heavy drapes over the thin windows can help! My main concern is that these increases (like the water-sewer rates last year) are sneaked in when no one is watching.

This is actually something like a 25 (or more) percent increase over three years. That’s pretty steep. I’d like these utility rate increases to be discusses separately from the whole budget issue and give people a chance to comment. Not all muddled in with the general budget hearings.

Just my thoughts.

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[redblack]

where did you get that number, fired up? this is a cut-n-paste from the editorial you cited:

“In this economic environment, adding to the cost of doing business is the last thing the city should do. Yet that is exactly what has been proposed. Mayor Mike McGinn has asked for Seattle City Light rate increases of almost 10 percent over the next two years.“

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[FiredUp]

Redblack, here’s how I looked at the increase:

Last November 13.8 percent increase (effective 2010).

May 2010 – 4.5 percent surcharge (was supposed to be temporary)

Proposed: 2011 — 4.3 percent increase

Proposed: 2012 — 4.2 percent increase

That seems like a pretty big increase in a short amount of time, I wonder if SCL should wait, take a more in-depth loot at the utility to see if there it really is going the right direction.

My concern is that a lot of businesses and people are having a tough time right now. I would like to know a lot more about City Light’s predicament.

Yet, I will be grateful during the winter to have light and heat.

Thanks for the good give-and-take Redblack!

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[JoB]

Firedup…

that’s one way to add up an increase… not exactly fair reporting…

the thing we need to watch for is privatization of our electric…

if that happens this increase will look like chump change

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[gene]

As others have pointed out, we enjoy some of the lowest electric rates in the country. We do also however have some challenges including aging infrastructure, reduced snow pack, etc. We need more of a rainy day fund (or a “lack of snow pack fund”), not to mention modernization to our grid.

Adding real-time monitoring/metering, demand controls, (smart grid technology in general) etc. will better position Seattle for the future, allow us to more efficiently use distributed power sources, and promote the development of innovative new services here in Seattle.

So, put me down as being in favor of a slight increase to already super-low rates.

What I would also love to see is more sources of low/no interest funding for energy retrofits: that would allow business and home owners lower overall costs, even with increasing rates. The upfront cost to retrofit can be a problem in this economy, but the long term benefits to lower ongoing costs, higher level of comfort, not to mention job creation could be huge. Unfortunately the City can’t offer these types of loans due to the State constitution…

JoB – Privatization would of SCL would be a disaster. Most of us have little idea how LUCKY we are that City Light owns its own generation, transmission and distribution system.

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[gene]

Hah! Look what was posted while I was writing:

West Seattle Thriftway makes history with new city loan program

Ask and ye shall receive.

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[Jasperblu]

The electricity rate increase last year just about KILLED me. I have an approx 1800 sq foot home (this includes a finished basement) which I gutted and remodeled in 2008/2009; replacing ALL walls, windows, electric, plumbing, roof, flooring, water heater, appliances, etc.

I also decommissioned the oil heater and installed the most energy efficient heat/cooling system I could buy. Everything is electric because my street does not have natural gas available, unless I want to pay the city over $10K (or more) to run gas lines from adjacent streets to my home (which I do not).

My Seattle City Light and Seattle Utilities bills went from about $100 per 2 mo billing cycle to over $250 per 2 month billing cycle (and sometimes higher). I don’t know about YOU all, but that is outrageous, even to me, and I’m from CALIFORNIA.

I keep my thermostat at (or below) 60 degrees in the winter. And the AC is at (or above) 75 in the summer. I am cautious about lights, and have replaced all incandescent bulbs w/ the low watt (crappy lighting) ones. I run my appliances in off-peak hours and sparingly. We turn computers and small appliances off, or unplug them, when not in use.

I don’t know what else I can do… but another increase (not to mention King County jacking up my property taxes), is NOT helpful to keeping me in my home. That’s for damn sure.

I’m NOT happy to hear they want to raise it again less than a year later.

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[JoB]

Jasperblu…

you went from running an oil furnace to heating and cooling with electric and you are upset that your electric bills went up?

so many things are wrong with that.

if you want to look at whether your energy costs went up or down.. you need to add the cost for the oil into the equation.

i too had low electric bills in the house we rented that was heated with oil.

we average just over 100/mo year round for electric and we are mostly energy misers in a 1200 sq ft older home…

of course we don’t run A/C but the house isn’t energy efficient either.

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[redblack]

jasperblu: given all of your upgrades, i’m guessing that you have a massive voltage leak somewhere. do you ever watch the meter spin?

do you have a sump pump? or anything else that runs semi-constantly? attic fans set incorrectly?

admittedly, i have gas boiler heat; but i have 200-amp service, no A/C, similar square footage in a 60-year-old mid-century daylight basement, a half-century’s worth of mixed wiring, badly-laid-out and ad-hoc circuits, and 10-year-old windows. it only costs us $40/month for electricity.

if i had your house, i would get an audit, because something is wrong. at 4.6 cents/kWh to 9.5 cents/kWh, seattle city light is the last party i would blame.

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[Huindekmi]

You do need to look at everything that you upgraded in the remodel. Did you expand the living area of your home (i.e. the amount of space that you are heating and lighting)?

Did you upgrade your TV? Silly question, I know, but a lot of people when they remodel like that also toss the old CRT TV for a newer flatscreen in the process. Hey, the flatscreen has an energy star sticker, so it should be better… right? Wrong. The energy star label only compares that model against similar models (i.e. flat screen against flat screen). You’ll be amazed how much more energy a LCD or plasma flat screen TV eats up compared to an old CRT… especially when it’s in standby.

I think SCE has a program to help customers identify vampire loads. It wouldn’t surprise me that some of the upgrades made in the remodel added in a bunch of extra load that you didn’t realize were there.

And as JoB said, you can’t really compare the costs of heating AND cooling with electric to your electric costs when you used to heat with oil.

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[JoB]

Huindekmi

so the flat screens were responsible for my electric bump? i don’t know why i didn’t put that one together.. but it didn’t even occur to me.

perhaps because i think of them in the same terms as death and taxes.. inevitable given hubby’s geek bias.

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[Carson]

Just put your hand on the back of it after its been on for an hour or so, warm if not hot, and heat is energy.

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