Waverly Utility Board Modifies Electric Rate Structure

posted on Monday, October 29, 2018 in Company News

WAVERLY, Iowa (October 29, 2018) – At the October 9, 2018 Board of Trustees meeting, Waverly Utilities’ Board unanimously approved a modification to the existing electric rate structure.  The modification will go into effect January 1, 2019.

This modification will result in collapsing the inclining block tiers from three down to two.  During the summer months, customers with usage over 1,100 kWh are currently charged at the rate of $0.1865 per kWh.  With the collapsing of the tiers, the top rate will be reduced to $0.1359 per kWh for any usage over 600 kWh.

The rate modification will also adjust the current customer charge, from $18.00 per month to $19.00.  The customer charge is a fixed monthly charge that does not fluctuate with usage or consumption.  This fee is intended to recover the fixed costs of the utility (such as maintaining the distribution lines, transformers, meters and bill coordination) that is not included in the usage charge.

Waverly Utilities expects the rate modification to be revenue neutral, meaning some customers may see a slight reduction while some customers may realize a slight increase.  A full compilation of the modifications will be available on Waverly Utilities web site.

This rate modification is based off a cost of service study performed earlier this year.  The original inclining block rate was initially put into place to encourage energy efficiency throughout the community by charging more as more energy was consumed.  In the past few years, Waverly Utilities has noticed energy efficiency savings have become stagnant and therefore felt changes to the rate structure were warranted.