The Eugene Water & Electric Board has raised the price of its utilities by 5.7 percent. The price hike, enacted on Oct. 5, increases the average household’s monthly energy bill by $4.51.
The hike is due to a rise in costs of the Bonneville Power Administration, from which EWEB purchases electricity, and continued low stream flow. John Yanov, the senior rate analyst for EWEB, said although BPA advertised lower prices, these rates pertained only to its Block product, which accounts for only one-third of EWEB’s energy output. The other two-thirds, bought from BPA’s Slice product, was raised by $3 million.
Roughly one-third of EWEB’s revenue from the price increase will be spent purchasing bulk electricity from Bonneville Power because it increased the cost of utilities. The other roughly 66 percent of the earnings will go to EWEB to provide greater financial stability during low-water years, according to EWEB.
When told that part of the
reason the price increased was a drought, Senior Flynne Olivarez asked: “What drought?”
“I’m already not a fan of EWEB,” Olivarez said. “As a
company, I don’t think they have catered at all to its student
customers who are just getting their first apartment and are just beginning to pay utilities in their lives. Raising prices on students doesn’t help.”
However, EWEB officials say Oregon is in its fifth consecutive year of below-average precipitation and that lack of rain and snow has caused the utilities company to lose close to $8 million in 2004 from lost hydropower generation. In 2005, EWEB will only use 85 percent of the normal amount of water available for hydroelectric generation, which will cut the utilities company’s revenues by $13.5 million per year.
“All price increases are not
operation or maintenance
expenses but just power related,” Yanov said.
Yanov said there is no way of knowing when the drought will end and no guarantee on whether there are any future price hikes intended. Yanov said the
possibility for a rate change is
decided by EWEB’s board every
six months.
Officials at the University’s Housing Department say they had a lead on the intended price hike last spring and calculated the price bump in the University’s budget for this year.
Currently the University is under a different rate structure with EWEB that increases its rate by 6.84 percent, costing the University a little more than $100,000 for this fiscal year, according to Josh Roddick at the University Facilities department.
Roddick said students in the dorms help pay the approximately $11,000 per month increase, but the University is still paying a lower cost than usual because it powers the campus with three of its
own transformers.
Senior Jon Siebum said he did not think he would notice the price hike in next month’s bill.
“My month-to-month bill is so different because we use more heat in our apartment in winter months and more water in others that I really couldn’t really notice any difference,” Siebum said.
EWEB offers several suggestions for reducing energy consumption. These include turning off electronic devices, such as computers and stereos; turning off lights, including outside and ornamental lights; turning your thermostat and hot water heater down; and reducing your hot water use by taking shorter showers instead of baths.
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