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Council to vote on VMEU rate cut
VINELAND -- The city's electric utility customers will see lower bills next year if City Council approves next week a change to how often the Vineland Municipal Electric Utility can adjust fuel fees. Council is expected to vote on Tuesday on an ordinance change that would add Jan. 1 as a fuel-adjustment date. VMEU Director Joseph Isabella said Friday at a news conference the utility will lower ratepayers bills about 5 percent -- for an average annual savings of $135 -- if council greenlights it. Currently, utility officials can only make changes to the fuel adjustment rate on June 1 and Oct. 1, Isabella said. The amended ordinance would add Jan. 1 as an adjustment date. "This gives us a chance, especially with the volatile market, to change the rate" sooner, Isabella said. The earlier adjustment date will allow the utility to more quickly get rates in line with the current wholesale power and fuel market, Isabella said. After Jan. 1, an average ratepayer using 1,500 kilowatt-hours per month would see a rate reduction of 4.7 percent for an annual savings of roughly $135, he said. That ratepayer currently pays $216.87 per month, but would pay $205.62 next year. Isabella said the new rates would have VMEU customers paying less than Atlantic City Electric customers. Atlantic City Electric customers using 1,500 kilowatt hours per month currently pay the utility $244. Spokeswoman Sandra May said the earliest the company could change its rates would be June 1. City Councilman Doug Albrecht, who serves as liaison between City Hall and the utility, said council supports the measure. "It just makes sense," he said. "It gives us more of an option to be flexible." During public hearings Isabella held in October, the utility director heard complaints that fuel costs were dropping, but ratepayers' bills didn't reflect that change. Isabella said his only response could be the Oct. 1 adjustment date had already passed, and the utility couldn't make another adjustment to the fuel fee until next summer. Now Isabella wants city residents to know their voice was heard. He plans to hold more public hearings, starting in spring 2009, to keep the dialogue open between the utility and city residents. Isabella explained when fuel costs go up after an adjustment date has passed, the utility absorbs the extra cost and then must make an adjustment to the fee on the next change date, he said. If costs go down after a change date, the utility must wait until the next adjustment period to credit ratepayers for the decrease, he said. Mayor Robert Romano said the move is really the best thing for city ratepayers, especially with the economy the way it is. "We're here to serve the people in the best and most economical way," he said. Additional Facts IF YOU GO City Council will hold a public hearing at Tuesday's meeting before voting on the ordinance adjustment. The meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. in council chambers on the second floor at City Hall, 640 E. Wood St., Vineland. |