Alameda Municipal Power Rates to Increase Again

The Public Utilities Board has approved a rate increase for Alameda Municipal Power, with new electric rates taking effect in July.

The board approved the new rates at its April 17th meeting. On average, rates for commercial and residential electric customers will go up 5 percent.

Residential customers will see a $2 increase to the monthly customer charge along with changes to the upper tiers of the electric charge.

Commercial customers will see an increase to the electric and demand charges only.

The utility says that is rates are still lower than rates in neighboring cities such as Oakland and San Leandro.

But the utility is catching up to PG&E. Last year, after announcing a 5 percent rate increase, officials local rates were 18.6 percent lower than PG&E’s. This year’s press release notes that local rates are 16 percent lower.

Alameda Municipal Power offers a variety of programs and services for customers who are in­terested in understanding their energy use or who are having trouble paying their utility bills.