It appears customers of Rochester Public Utilities will see a significant electric rate increase next year.

The RPU Board is scheduled to vote tomorrow on a resolution that gives preliminary notice to the public of the municipal utility’s intent to increase overall general electric rates 3.5-percent in 2015. The proposal also calls for the rates to rise 1.7-percent in each of the following two years. Those overall rate increases include higher monthly residential customer charges. RPU staff is recommending boosting those charges by $1.50 next year and by another dollar a month in both 2016 and 2017.

The RPU Board is also being asked to implement a 12-month rolling average power cost adjustment. It is a method used by most utilities to pass through the fluctuations between the actual power purchase cost in the baseline used to set the base rates. If those costs are higher, the increase would be passed onto the customer as a separate billing line item, while lower purchase costs would be passed through as a credit on RPU monthly bills.

The RPU Board will hold a public hearing on the rate increase proposal at its meeting on August 26th.

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