Homer Electric Association members will see their rates increasing, if only slightly, in 2024 the utility cooperative announced on Friday.
In a press release sent out by HEA late last week, the cooperative explained how its customers would see a base rate increase of 3.5% beginning Jan. 1, 2024. Member Relations Manager Keriann Baker told KSRM the increase was a reluctant decision made in response to a steady rise in inflation since HEA’s last base rate increase in 2020.
“As we were going through the budget and looking at the price increases from 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023, we were just seeing enormous increases on our everyday supplies that we use to produce electricity, to streamline, [and] all of that kind of thing,” said Baker on Monday.
The raise in cost comes after the Regulatory Commission of Alaska (RCA) approved Homer Electric’s Nov. 3 Simplified Rate Filing (SRF) requesting an increase to the base rate by three and one-half percent (3.5%). This increases the residential energy rate from $0.16077 per kilowatt-hour to $0.16640 per kilowatt-hour.
Baker says the utility company tried to keep the necessary increase as low as possible by prioritizing budget cuts over a rate increase. “As we went through our budget, we went through and cut what we could and then we tried to hold the base rate increase as low as possible. And I’m pretty proud that our board, and our finance team, and our department heads were able to hold it at 3.5%, which is significantly below the rate of inflation the last two years.”
According to the HEA press release, its post pandemic costs due to inflation have risen by nearly 19%. As the company explains it, “Electric cooperatives in Alaska, as well as the lower 48, continue to see price escalation for materials and services due to continued inflation and supply chain disruptions. This base rate increase will help the cooperative keep pace with the rate of inflation.”
General Manager Brad Janorschke stated that “A base rate increase is never welcome but given the significant increases in goods and services I am pleased that HEA’s aggressive cost cutting and operational efficiencies held the base rate significantly below the inflation rate over the past three years.”
For more information on the rate change, visit www.homerelectric.com.
