For months now we have been discussing the increasing costs of fuel, electricity, and other goods.  Even though gasoline prices have slightly dipped recently, the cost of the fuels used to generate electricity continues to rise dramatically.  Specifically, the prices of natural gas and coal have increased substantially since the beginning of 2008 due to growing demand and increased transportation costs.  In addition, many of the coal contracts generation utilities have with suppliers are expiring, and the unit cost of coal is 300% more than it was under the old contracts.
 
Due to these factors most utilities are announcing significant rate increases beginning this fall.   The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) announced in early August that its customers will see a 15% increase in their monthly utility bills.  Progress Energy has already filed for a 16% increase that would go into effect this fall.  The Association of Electric Cooperatives in South Carolina also recently revealed a 15 to 20% predicted rate increase for this winter.  As you can see, these are all neighboring utilities which are enacting significant rate increases in similar proportions.  As you might expect, French Broad Electric has also seen substantial wholesale fuel cost increases which are forcing us to raise the fuel charges to our customers.  In fact French Broad EMC is paying about 16% more in wholesale fuel charges now than this time last year.  On top of that, our transmission tariff has increased 30% and we face the same costs everyone else is facing with the price of materials and other goods consistently on the rise.  With these increases, our customers can also expect to see the purchased power and fuel adjustment portion of their bills to increase over the next several months.  This is not good news for our members, but it is necessary so that we can continue to pay FBEMC’s wholesale power bill as well as its other bills. 

To potentially make matters even worse, our federal legislators are contemplating new laws that could increase our electric bills even more.  Balanced public policy is needed to assure that electricity is affordable, reliable and meets our nation’s environmental goals.  Our concern about having enough affordable electricity is shared by thousands who have raised this same issue with their elected officials since February 2008.  As a matter of fact, over 300,000 emails, letters and postcards have made their way into Congress asking them to keep us, the consumer, in mind as they deal with electricity issues.  This is a great start and you have our legislators’ attention, but we must keep the pressure on them to make sure they keep our interests ahead of special interest groups.  If you have not filled out and sent us the form below, I encourage you to do so now or go to www.ourenergy.coop to sign up.

Let’s not wait until it’s too late.  Please take a moment and act now.  America is at a critical time as we are facing generation shortages, rising fuel costs, and the need for additional transmission infrastructure.  We have to make sure our representatives in Washington structure this legislation in a way that assures us of dependable and affordable electricity now and into the future. 

Thank You,

Jeff Loven
Email: jeff.loven@frenchbroademc.com


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