Alameda Electric Rates Going Up Nine Percent For Typical Residential Customers

At last night’s Public Utilities Board meeting, that body approved an overall five percent rate increase for residential and commercial customers of Alameda’s electric utility.

A media statement from Alameda Municipal Power today says the rate hike is necessary to help replace aging infrastructure and address increased transmission and power supply costs.

The actual percentage increase that individual customers may see will vary on their rate class. According to the utility, a typical residential customer with an average monthly bill of $54.25 can expect to see an increase of ap­proximately $5.10 to his or her monthly bill, a 9.4 percent increase.

Rates for small business customers will increase by 4.2 percent, and those for mid-sized customers will go up 2.1 percent. Large customers’ rates will increase by 7.1 percent.

The utility says that the rate increase moves its billing structure towards one that better aligns the rates of each customer class with the cost of providing service.

The increase goes into effect July 1st, the start of the new fiscal year.