A Town Hall meeting last week brought questions and answers from Winnfield residents concerned about recent peaks in their electric bills.
Speaking and fielding questions April 3 were Kevin Bihm from LEPA, Louisiana Energy & Power Authority which supplies the wholesale power to the city’s substation, and Jarod Taylor of Delta Consulting out of Natchitoches.
Mayor Gerald Hamms, host of the session, opened by telling a good turnout at the A. Leonard Allen Building that he’d brought in the speakers to answer their utility questions. “We want to be as transparent as possible.”
Bihm said he believed he’d brought good news with a report of the rate stabilization program that the city asked for in 2020. LEPA approved and it went into effect in 2022. He explained that it serves to “smooth out” costs over the year. Because the number of kilowatts homeowner use in summer and winter, costs are higher. When heating or cooling is not needed as much in spring and fall, bills are lower. By charging a little more during those slow months, that money that was “put away” can be repaid in summer and winter, thus reducing those bills. Without stabilization, a bill for 2000 kwh would have been $194. With stabilization, it was $161.
Questions indicated that the audience was still unsure. If they set their thermostats at the same temperature as last year, why were costs so much higher this year? They asked. Bihm took that question, noting that from January 12-17, temperatures here were below freezing, reaching down to 11 degrees one night, far colder than last year. “When it’s colder outside, your heater cycles on more often to keep up. It may not turn off at all. The higher bills this winter are not due to high rates but rather to higher consumption.” LEPA also experienced a spike in costs from its suppliers.
He also showed a chart to the audience of the costs charged by dozens of electric cooperatives and investor-owned companies across Louisiana. LEPA was near the top, the second cheapest in the state. Residents with the same usage out in the parish on Entergy would have paid 27% more, he said
Johnny Ray Carpenter asked how fuel adjustment impacts the bills. Bihm replied that the fuel adjustment costs are already part of the wholesale billing to the city. What some may call the “electric bill” might more accurately be called the “utility bill” since it includes water, sewerage and garbage. “You pay in one bill what others might write four different checks for,” said Taylor.
The LEPA rep demonstrated on another graph that for a $101 charge to a city customer, LEPA’s charge to the city was $61. The other $39 is not so much a “fuel adjustment” but “city charges” which generate revenues to supply and man not only the electric department but other city departments that don’t generate much revenue including fire and police. “I’d also call it good news when residents buy electricity from their own municipality because the money stays here.”
As to higher bills during severe weather, consultant Taylor confirmed that heating and cooling is the greatest consumer of kilowatt usage by a homeowner. So where temperatures are really high or really low, weather is the main cost factor. “You never have an issue with air conditioning during the spring or fall.”
Mayor Hamms concluded that the city must act (financially) responsibly “so that we’ll have the money to pay LEPA each month. Otherwise, all the lights would go off.”