By Shannon McFarlin WENK/WTPR News Director
Paris, Tenn.—With the bids for the office renovations coming in higher than expected, the Board of Public Utilities has set a special meeting for next week to allow General Manager Terry Wimberley to present a recommendation.
At today’s regular monthly meeting, Wimberley said the bids were opened Thursday, “but the number was higher than we expected. Part of the overage was expected but part was not.” He had planned to make a recommendation at today’s meeting but asked for more time.
A special meeting was set for 10 a.m. Thursday, May 3 at the Commercial Bank and Trust meeting room. Wimberley said that would allow the renovation to move forward as quickly as possible.
The temporary customer service office opened Monday across the street from the BPU headquarters on West Washington St. and will continue operating there until the renovations are complete.
In other business, the board heard a report from Wimberley on a proposed electric rate increase for October 1, 2018. He said it is being discussed now because the proposal has to be turned over to TVA soon so that TVA can approve the increase request.
The goals of the rate increase are: that it adhere to the public power model and provides safe, reliable, low-cost electricity to our customers; establish a five-year financial plan that identifies revenue requirements for desired cash levels, capital spending and debt service over that period; and achieve projected revenue requirements through no more than two rate increases over the next five years.
Wimberley said no vote was required today; he was just presenting the information for discussion.
He said, “The goal of our staff is to keep rates as low as we can and still do the business we need to do.”
BPU has not had an electric rate increase for five years which Wimberley said “speaks to the financial responsibility of the BPU.
The proposed rate increase would be effective Oct. 1, 2018. The Service Availability Charge would increase by $1.40 per month for residential customers and 50 cents for small general service customers.
A second tier would be the proposed new monthly grid access charge. Wimberley said if approved at the May 10 TVA board meeting, TVA will implement a wholesale rate structure change that will affect the TVA bill. A fixed monthly charge would be added to the wholesale bill, he said. BPU is proposing to add a 50 cent monthly charge to residential and small general service customers because of the TVA structure change.
The proposed changes will be discussed further and Wimberley noted he already had discussed the proposed changes individually with board members.
Photo by Shannon McFarlin
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