City utility bills are high this month and will continue so due to cold weather extremes. But customers can help ease the cost bite by diligent control of their thermostat, Utility Department Director Gladys Hobdy reported at the February 13 session of the Winnfield City Council.
She was asked to address the council in light of utility bills going out to some customers who were looking at $600, $700 or $800 charges. She noted that during the billing cycle of January 2 through February 2, temperatures have been very cold, dropping to perhaps 10 degrees and residents have turned up their thermostats to compensate.
Cost problems compound, she suggested, when kilowatt-hours usage is high and often homes are not well-insulated. One added issue is a “fuel cost” adjustment, the cost of the natural gas that is burned to generate electricity provided by supplier LEPA in Lafayette. The council heard that customers ought to have a “heads-up” that bills in this next cycle may not be much better since temperatures have remained low.
Ms. Hobdy said that customers can help themselves by adjusting their thermostats. She told the gathering in the council room that she keeps her home set at 72 degrees. “If you get cold, put on more warm clothes. And electric heaters are not good. In fact they can be dangerous if they are left on all night.”
Questioned on a problem of bills sometimes going out late so that there are hardly many days to pay before a penalty is assessed after the 12th, she responded that the city now uses a billing service. “In the past, I used to take the bills myself early to the Post Office.”
The director was also asked if the city should look to a different supplier to purchase electricity at a lower cost. She noted that the city has gotten its electricity from LEPA for some 30 years and periodic inquiries through those years have always shown this to be cheaper than any other sources they’ve looked at. The Louisiana Energy and Power Authority (LEPA) was created by the State Legislature in 1979 and is made up of 19 cities and towns across the state, each maintaining its own independent municipal power system.
She added that anyone with a question on their bill can call the Utility Office at 628-4452.