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Rising Costs lead to Rate Adjustment Average member will see additional $5 on their monthly bill beginning in October After nine years with no rate increases, rising wholesale power and materials costs are driving the need for an overall 3.5 percent rate adjustment recently approved by the Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corporation’s (d/b/a Blue Ridge Energy) Board of Directors after a thorough cost of service study. Beginning in October, the typical Blue Ridge Energy member using approximately 1,000 kWh monthly will see an additional $5 on their monthly electric bill.
is critical to providing members with reliable service and capacity to meet current growth. Energy prices are being impacted by inflation, shortages and delays, global factors and the rising cost of natural gas and other power generation resources. Materials costs have also increased: transformers, conductors and other supplies by 36 percent, with some supplier estimations of an additional 10 to 110 percent increase as compared to last year. Fleet costs for service vehicles have also risen along with fuel.
“We’re committed to providing the lowest cost, most reliable electricity to our members so it’s never easy to pass along an increase— we only do so when absolutely necessary,” said Chief Executive Officer Doug Johnson. “We realize it is especially difficult during a time when inflation is impacting every sector in the economy and all households and businesses,” he added.
Blue Ridge Energy wants to help members keep their bills as low as possible. Tips and energy efficiency information are available on BlueRidgeEnergy.com, where members will also find programs such as Budget Billing, our “pay as you use” FlexPay option and Usage Tracker, which shows daily electricity usage, helping members make changes if needed to get ahead of high bills.
Increasing energy and material costs to maintain and operate the electric system are major drivers of the need for a rate adjustment, as well as a transmission system upgrade, which
Look for more details in the Perspective on the next page and on the cover of this magazine.
For information on ways to save and energy efficiency tips, visit BlueRidgeEnergy.com/Save
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