Columbia City Council meets for special weekend session

Columbia City Council wrapped up a special work session Saturday evening.

The meeting started around 8 a.m. and lasted past 4 p.m. Saturday afternoon. The council wanted to further discuss several key issues, including the proposed electric rate increases from last Monday’s City Council meeting.

ABC 17 went to the meeting where council members did not publicly take a stand on either side of the proposed two percent electric increase. Leaders from Columbia Water and Light presented more detailed information about the proposal. According to their statistics, those most affected by the rate increase will be those customers that use very little energy at all.

However, City Council members had concerns about introducing yet another price increase.

“I think when we start to carve this out in terms of growth, whether it’s roads, electric and sewer, storm water and all the rest of this, that becomes a bigger number or a much bigger number,” said Councilman Karl Skala.

Yet, Columbia Water and Light said it needs to generate the revenue in the most equitable manner. That’s through its proposal of a change in the fixed cost of the base rate for electricity.

“It’s designed to recover costs that really don’t vary with usage, and that is the actual connection between the transformers and the customer,” said a Columbia Water and Light official.

In other words, it funds the distribution fees needed to get the energy to your home.

That cost will be a two percent increase across the board on a customer’s monthly electricity bill. The base rate will increase to $14.60 per month.

At first glance, city leaders wondered how it would affect low income customers. At the meeting, Columbia Water and Light explained that, based on their research, how much electricity someone uses does not correlate with that person’s income in Columbia. That means, low income users are not always the ones conserving their energy.

Through this proposal, those affected will be the ones using the least amount of energy, specifically landlords with empty apartments hooked up to the system.

Columbia Water and Light officials said when students leave in the summer, it hurts electric revenue during the three most profitable months of the year.

City Manger Mike Matthes said, “Utilities have had a pretty rough couple of years, partly because of the way we structured it. It depends on those three hot months to balance. It needs those to reach revenue goals.”

Matthes mentioned that base rates did not increase last year, even though Columbia Water and Light wanted one.

The City Council also discussed the proposed parking, sewer and trash bag fees.

The next City Council meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, September 2.