Xcel Energy looks to raise rates

STAFF REPORT

Xcel Energy has filed a proposal with the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission to adjust its base rates in 2017, according to an Xcel press release sent Wednesday.

The company is looking to increase the current average rate of $109.25 per month by $18.23 for every 1,000 kilowatt-hours —about the usage of an average house — by mid to late 2017, the release said.

A kilowatt-hour is a unit of energy equivalent to 1 kilowatt (1,000 watts) of power sustained for one hour, said Xcel Spokesman Wes Reeves, adding that the average rate is based on an average between winter rates and summer rates.

The increase is to support “$1.8 billion in grid improvements from July 2015 through June 2018 designed to boost economic growth, and to reflect scheduled declines in wholesale power sales,” the release said. “Xcel Energy has proposed to raise non-fuel base revenues by $41.4 million annually or 11 percent overall.”

Reeves said the increase was based on current fuel prices.

A significant amount of the funds will be invested in new transmission and distribution lines and substations to deliver more power into sections of the state with increased demand for electricity, the release said.

“As Xcel Energy’s contracted wholesale sales decline, existing production system costs must be reallocated to retail customers,” the release said. “Most of these contracts with rural electric cooperatives and municipal systems end in 2019. As these customers exit the system, remaining customers bear a larger share of the cost of generating facilities.”

Portales residents saw water rates increase in July 2015 with residential accounts increasing by $3 per month for water and $8 per month for sewage.

The residential rate increased again in July of this year by another $3 per month for water and $7 for sewage.

For commercial accounts, there was a $5 water rate increase and $9 sewage rate increase in July 2015 and $4 for water and $9 for sewage in July 2016.

The increased water rates will remain in effect until the city pays off an 18-year, $24.5 million loan for its wastewater and reuse plant, which was required of the city by the state, according to Portales city officials.

According to Clovis News Journal records, the New Mexico American Water increased water rates in Clovis by 15 percent in May 2009. Current rates, according to EPCOR’s website, range between $4.07 and $4.68 per 1,000 gallons and between $3.55 and $4.26 per 1,000 gallons for public schools and municipalities.

Now named EPCOR Water, the private company is the city’s municipal water supplier. A call placed to EPCOR officials Friday was unsuccessful.