DALTON UTILITIES RATE CHANGES
ELECTRIC RATES
* 4 percent increase
* 7.74 cents: Amount residents will pay per kilowatt hour in 2010
* 7.45 cents: Amount per kilowatt hour paid in 2009
* $7.81: Monthly increase residential customers will see with an average use of 1,500 kilowatt hours
WATER RATES
* 8 percent increase
* $3 base fee increase
* $20.28: Monthly residential water bill based on 7,500 gallons usage in 2010
* $16.56: Monthly residential water bill based on 7,500 gallons usage in 2009
WASTEWATER RATES
* 6.5 percent increase
* $2 base fee increase
* $26.30: Monthly residential wastewater bill based on 7,500 gallons usage in 2010
* $23.28 Monthly residential wastewater bill based on 7,500 gallons usage in 2009
2010 BUDGET BOTTOM LINE
* $197,906,000: Total revenues
* $218,992,000: Total expenses
Source: Dalton Utilities
DALTON, Ga. — Dalton Utilities customers will pay more for utilities starting in January 2010, with the most significant increases in electric, water and wastewater rates.
In a 4-1 vote Monday, the Water, Light & Sinking Fund Commission approved the upcoming year’s budget with the increases at its regular meeting.
Although rates are going up, the increases won’t be as high as originally proposed. The board considered increasing monthly electric fees by 9 percent, water by 16 percent and wastewater by 13 percent.
Instead, board members voted to increase electricity by 4 percent, water by 8 percent and wastewater by 6.5 percent.
Customers also will see nominal increases for natural gas, most cable packages and Internet, said Lori McDaniel, spokeswoman for Dalton Utilities.
After the meeting, Commissioner Cathy Holmes said commission members wanted to “factor in the severity of the economic situation for our industrial customers (and) our residential customers.”
“I think, for now, we can make it through this year with a lesser increase, but cannot continue to subsidize as we are,” she said.
From Sept. 30, 2008, to Sept. 30, 2009, Dalton Utilities saw a “$9 million deficit in the utility’s operating margin” — the difference between the cost to provide utility services and revenues from utility services, Ms. McDaniel explained after the meeting.
Commissioner George Mitchell voted against the increases, saying he’d prefer to delay them in the current economy.
But Vice Chairman Frank Robertson said the gap between what customers pay and the utility’s cost to provide the services will only continue to widen.
“We’re using our investment assets to subsidize their (customers) utility bill,” he said. “There will be a day of reckoning.”
Dalton Utilities President and CEO Don Cope said the utility has subsidized utility rates now for about 15 years while costs continue to rise for the company.
Federal legislation, such as cap and trade, may increase the cost even further, which would then be passed on to consumers, he warned.
“I’m concerned that it’s (utility cost) going to grow much greater in the future,” he said.
Ms. McDaniel noted that, even with the increases, Dalton Utilities rates remain lower than national and state averages.
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