Kaplan Council votes to save residents money

Tuesday night, the Kaplan City Council approved a resolution offering lower rates to level billing for customers who may see an increase in their April utility bills.
February was a cold one for all in Louisiana, and something residents are not used to and hard to prepare for. Still, when utility bills arrive, people often begin struggling to pay the higher rates in usage.
Mayor Kloesel mentioned that the bills could be higher partly because of the increase in demand and partly because of the storm’s stressed energy market.
“During the ice storm that we experienced, energy rates went through the roof for everyone across the United States,” the Mayor said. “We are fixed on our electrical rates, but we are not fixed on the energy cost.”
The Mayor further explained that there are several components to the utility rate.
Technically the AER (Actual Energy Rate), which is only one small component of the rate that Kaplan pays, is a portion of your bill that is usually so small you wouldn’t notice it, but because of the demand on energy during the ice storm. This part of your bill rose drastically beyond anyone’s wildest imagination.
The Mayor says that he felt it was important for the council to consider relief for the residents during this difficult time and they were very accommodating. Since those resources’ price more than doubled for the city’s suppliers, Kloesel asked the council to vote to absorb the abnormal one-time increase caused by this storm and bill customers at the standard rate. Doing so will allow customers to be charged at the same rate per kilowatt-hour as they were in January and to be able to afford to do so.
Having gas stored up in an emergency, Kaplan used all of its stockpiles during the February winter weather.
City Engineer Todd Vincent further explaining the reason why these rate changes happen. “With Slemco, there are three different charges with two of those charges being fixed,” he said. “The other charge is an avoided cost charge.” An avoided cost is the incremental cost to a utility of generating or purchasing electric energy or capacity, or both, in an amount equal to that purchased from the qualifying facility.
“Because the utility has had capacity issues, these utility companies have to turn on very expensive generators at the plant to make up the capacity to rule out blackouts,” Vincent said, “That’s why the prices to spike so high.”
The council voted for the city to absorb the abnormal one-time increase that was caused by the February ice storm and bill customers at a normal rate.
Kloesel added that the language in the American Rescue Plan signed last week by President Joe Biden specified residential help in cities, meaning that the city’s utility fund, which the Mayor mentioned to be in great shape, should be reimbursed when the city receives that federal funding. Kaplan is expecting more than $1 million, and the additional costs of utility bills due to the winter weather is estimated at a minimum of $150,000, the Mayor added.
The council approved the resolution unanimously.
The Mayor said the city could afford to eat the increase, but many residents may be struggling.
“If we were hurting, I’d say everybody’s got to pay their fair share, but residents have been paying their fair share,” Kloesel commented. “Maybe it’s time we give our residents some relief.”
Adopting this resolution and allowing the city to absorb the excess rate will save residents and businesses over 50% of their utility bills because of this spike.