Utility bills will jump for Iolans

City officials announced Thursday they are bumping up electric charges associated with the bitterly cold temperatures in February. Increases are estimated between $30 to $70 monthly for each customer over the next year.

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March 12, 2021 - 3:28 PM

Utility bills are about to jump significantly for Iolans.

Iola city officials announced Thursday they are bumping up electric charges associated with the bitterly cold temperatures that blanketed the area over a two-week stretch in mid-February.

While each household is a little different, the city is estimating monthly increases of $30 to $70 for each customer over the next year.

With sub-zero temperatures blanketing the country over several days, utility providers struggled to keep up with demand, leading to price hikes Rehder said was best described as “epic.”

Over that two week stretch when temperatures were at their coldest, Iola’s costs skyrocketed from $120,000 to $3 million.

“When I first saw those numbers, I thought somebody had made a mistake and moved the decimal point two places over where it should have been,” Rehder said. “I wouldn’t have believed if I didn’t see it for myself.”

Rather than sock the customers with the bills all at once, the city is spreading out the increased cost over the next 12 billing cycles.

In a Facebook post dated Thursday, city officials stressed each customer will pay only for electricity they consumed.

To recover those additional charges, the city is relying upon its energy cost adjustment formula, which Iola uses to account for variables in the price of fuel it purchases.

Over the next 12 months, the ECA is going from 1 cent per kilowatt hour to 4 cents per kWh.

“We’re seeing some increases as low as $30,” Rehder said, although the increase will be more for all-electric homes.

Of note, Iolans largely avoided a similar price hike with its natural gas customers because the city was able to use stored gas to avoid paying exorbitant charges during the cold snap.

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