Piedmont Electric Customers Can Expect Another Rate Increase In The Future

Mayor Baker asked Piedmont Power and Light Manager, Corey Horton, to speak to the Council during Tuesday’s Meeting about the rate study that was done for the utility. Horton said the fuel surcharge was not  added to the customer’s bills in December and January due to the already high bills caused by the extreme cold weather we had experienced. Horton said these were some of the highest bills sent yet.
Horton went on to tell the Council they needed to upgrade substations to the cost of $650,000 to $800,000. He said if the upgrades were not performed, the City would be experiencing blackouts.
He also told the Council, there needs to be another rate increase soon. He said from 14 to 17 to 20 percent would be the range of the rate increase. There has not been any time line set for a rate increase.
The rates were last  increased by 19 percent on November 1, 2023, which was the first electric rate increase for customers in over 15 years,  along with all other utilities in the City.
Horton did not state when the rate increase would go into effect but did say it would be needed to keep the revenue of the Utility where it needed to be. He told WEIS News, the Piedmont Power and Light rates would still be lower than Alabama Power and Cherokee Electric.

WEIS News spoke to  Piedmont Power and Light, about the Fuel Surcharge that was mentioned at the Tuesday Council Meeting. We have been told the Fuel Surcharge Will Not Be passed along to the Consumers until the next rate adjustment and then it will only be 0.002 Cent Per Kilowatt hour and will be a part of the rate structure.