Wayne Swanson says he’s never voted for a rate increase in the more than 12 years he’s been a city councilman in LaFayette, Ga.
Until Monday night, that is, when Swanson was part of a 3-to-2 majority on the council who approved what should amount to a $10 to $11 a month price hike for the average customer’s electricity bill.
“This is just to pay for the clean coal,” said Swanson, referring to the city’s extra $939,000 cost this year to buy electricity from the Municipal Electric Association of Georgia.
“If we do not do this, we would have to lay employees off, we would have to furlough employees — and that still wouldn’t have been enough,” Swanson said.
City Manager Frank Etheridge said the additional expense is because of federal regulations requiring cleaner energy. Etheridge says the city had to pass the extra cost on to its 3,905 customers.