Stowe electric bills going up

By John Zicconi The Stowe Electric Department has asked the Vermont Public Service Board to grant a 12.25 percent increase in consumer rates.

The increase, which will cost the average homeowner less than $10 per month, was requested to bail the publicly-owned utility out of a $400,000 deficit, said Ray Koliander, a spokesman with the Vermont Department of Public Service.

"The big thing is they have lost money," Koliander said. "We have to correct that loss and put in a minor profit."

If approved, the rate increase will not only make up the deficit but leave Stowe Electric with about a $130,000 annual profit, Koliander said. The Department's annual budget is about $5 million, he said.

Although no hearing date before the Public Service Board has been scheduled, the new rates will go into effect in March. Vermont law allows the utility to charge the higher rates before a hearing. Should the Public Service Board lower the increase, rate payers will be credited through future bills.

Bernard Machia, general manager of Stowe Electric, said rising power costs since the department's last rate increase in 1998 has caused it to run a deficit.

"I tried to survive with that and probably waited too long," Machia said. "I should have applied for a rate case about a year-and-a-half ago. But I didn't. If I did, this increase would have been a little smaller."

Machia said the cost of both generating power and transporting it to Stowe has increased significantly over the past several years.

"My costs have gone up and its almost all for the cost of purchasing power," Machia said. "It's killing us. But it is killing everyoneŠ If your expenses go up more than your revenues, the cost has to go up. There is just no way around it."

http://www.stowereporter.com/community/7-electric.shtml

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), February 15, 2001