El Paso County nearing rate case settlement with El Paso Electric

El Paso County Commissioners have put their stamp of approval on a possible settlement with El Paso Electric over the request to increase the fees for electric service – known as a rate case.

“So there’s been a settlement that’s been worked on for quite some time,” County Judge Veronica Escobar said. “And I think you all are very well aware, I think this is very public, that the solar energy folks have – there’s been some points of contention between the utility and those advocates. During this period, there was a compromise that was reached.”

The county has been working in conjunction with other government entities affected by the proposed rate increase across the state. It’s not considered likely that the increase will be stopped entirely, but getting a deal nailed down could keep it from going up even more.

“And so our legal counsel urged us to approve this settlement,” Escobar said. “But she’s asked us not to talk about it until other parties sign on. Because if someone doesn’t sign on and it gets reworked – it’s not final until it’s final.”

For the county, the concern is what will ultimately impact the taxpayer – increasing costs for county facilities operations that could impact the tax rate as well as the increases to the individual resident’s electric bill. But it will still probably be a while before we know for sure in a process that has been going since last year already.

“It’s just taken so long, I’m not expecting it to happen any time soon,” Escobar said.

The proposed settlement will now go before other governing bodies affected by the possible increase for their approval, ultimately ending up before the Public Utility Commission to finalize it.