EPE Rate Increase Also Applies To City

el paso says its budget is going to take a hit if el paso electric’s proposed rate hike tafes effect. abc-7’s maria garcia is live with a story you’ll see only on abc-7. we told you how el paso electric filed its rate case this week. one of the biggest customers who could see a hike in its bill is the city of el paso. the electric company says the city should pay more for traffic, street and park lights. el paso electric says customers – including the city don’t really pay for the actual costs of getting electricity. that’s because different groups make their case to pay less and some are more effective at convincing the state. for example: el paso electric says governments electric costs are often subsidized by other ep electric customers, like some businesses. the electric company says that if the city were to pay what it actually costs to provide electricty to park lights, street lights and traffic signals… the electric company would have to raise the city’s rates from 53 to 77 percent! but el paso electric says it knows that increase would be too steep too fast. so it’s proposing the city pay 23-percent more than it does right now. 05:31 the way we calculate what we feel like is fair across all of our customers is not something that is an absolute science and so other groups might feel like they would have another way of allocating it that would be just as fair 18:06 it is going to impact our fund by over a million dollars next year if it stays as it is from now the state will decide how much the city will pay. as well as residential and commercial customers. el paso electric says it needs to raise rates because it’s spent 1.3 billion dollars improving the grid and its services. little chance for rain today