Warm and drier temperatures this fall are boosting the cost of power as Chattanoogans prepare for colder temperatures this winter.
EPB residential electricity rates will rise 0.9 percent today due to an increase in the monthly fuel cost adjustment by the Tennessee Valley Authority. Power rates this month will average 4.7 percent more than a year ago, due to both TVA's base rate increase implemented in October and the rise in fuel costs over the 12 months.
"The overall system average fuel rate is approximately 15 percent higher than the three-year average December fuel cost," TVA spokesman Scott Brooks said. "This is largely due to higher than expected sales for the last quarter of fiscal year 2016 and lower expectations for hydro generation."
With warmer temperatures, TVA was forced to buy more power, and with only a fraction of normal rainfall in recent months, hydroelectric generation from TVA's 29 power-generating dams has been far below average, Brooks said.
Hydro generation is TVA's cheapest power source since the "fuel" for the dam generators comes from rainfall provided by Mother Nature.
"For the month of October, TVA hydro generation was approximately 30 percent lower than anticipated across the system," Brooks said. "Rainfall was 17 percent of normal, and runoff was 25 percent of normal."
The drought was even more severe in Chattanooga than the Tennessee Valley as a whole. In the past two months prior to Wednesday's deluge of rain, TVA recorded less than 2 inches of rain at the Chickamauga Dam. So far this year, rainfall is running more than 18 inches below normal in Chattanooga, according to the National Weather Service.
The higher fuel cost adjustment for December means the typical household in Chattanooga that uses 1,295 kilowatthours of electricity will pay $143.34 for power this month, or $1.32 more than such a consumer would have been charged in November and $6.44 more than the cost of such power in December 2015.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration projects electricity rates this winter will average about 1 percent more than last year across the entire country.
Among U.S. households, 39 percent rely on electricity as their primary heating source, ranging from 63 percent in the South to 15 percent in the Northeast, EIA reports.
Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreeprsess.com or at 423-757-6340.