This past Monday – May 13, City Council held a Public Hearing and approved the first reading of the proposed water rate adjustments to the Water Rate Ordinance that would become effective June 1, 2019. More details can be found by visiting, PWPweb.com/ProposedWaterRateAdjustments.
The City Council also approved to set a Public Hearing for June 10 to discuss proposed electric rate adjustments. In brief, the adjustments that Pasadena Water and Power (PWP) is proposing would entail the following, and become effective July 1, 2019, if approved.
- Implement a new fixed “Grid Access Charge” to recover fixed costs and generate new revenue
- Increase the low-income eligibility level to support more participation with the program and increase the benefit amount
Also for discussion, is to suspend collection of the monthly Underground Surtax. With the proposal to suspend the Underground Surtax, the total bill impact of the electric rate changes will be greatly minimized.
Additionally, the Energy Services charge will be increased to recover higher costs of purchased power, fuel, and renewable energy. Although this cost-driven adjustment does not require City Council action, it is important for our customers to have this information to understand the forthcoming changes to their electric bills.
To learn more or to share your input online, please visit: PWPweb.com/ProposedElectricRateAdjustments
PWP has also created a bill estimator to help customers identify the impact of these proposed changes. To check it out, click http://billestimator.cityofpasadena.net/.
The Pasadena Chamber has suggested that the increases could be partially mitigated by not applying the automatic transfer to the City's general fund to the increase.
You can comment on the proposal by CLICKING HERE to email the Pasadena City Council.
