Ephrata residents and business owners again voiced frustration with skyrocketing electric bills Monday night.

More than 100 people attended a meeting of the borough's municipal enterprises committee in the town's fire hall.

Many had electric bills in hand from earlier this month, when the borough enacted a 40-percent rate hike.

The three borough council members on the committee — Dale Hertzog, Anthony Kilkuskie and Wendy Perillo — listened to residents for 2½ hours.

Borough Manager Gary Nace said today that their suggestions will be considered in the next few weeks.

Residents asked the borough to delay enacting the increase for a month, or phase it in, and not to bill customers at the higher rate for any consumption before Feb. 1.

That's when the electricity Ephrata Borough buys to resell to residents jumped in cost by 40 percent. But some residents said they were charged the higher rate for consumption as far back as December.

"I think the municipal enterprise committee did a good job learning from citizens what their concerns are," Nace said of the meeting. "I'm sure the committee will consider all of the suggestions."

He expects the committee will make a recommendation to address the electricity cost issue at the March 9 council meeting, at 7:30 p.m. at the borough office building, 124 S. State St.

Ephrata resident Marie Fryberger said today that the changes the borough is considering "sound good" and now the question is whether they'll occur.

She paid her February bill, which was double January's bill, but wouldn't mind having some of it returned or credited if changes are made.

Of course, the borough must pay its electricity bill, too.

"We have not received our bill for February yet," Nace said. "We expect it to be $850,000 higher than last year. Cash flow is a serious consideration."

The borough's budget and finance committee will meet Thursday at the borough building at 6:30 p.m. It will study and advise on the "long-standing impact of any of the proposals," Nace said.

He said he didn't think that meeting would have an open forum to receive more comments from residents.

Borough council will have a work session on Monday, March 2, at 7 p.m., at the borough building, Nace added, but action will not be taken on the electricity cost issue at that time.

Nace said the borough paid about $7.5 million last year for electricity. It expects to have to pay $15 million this year.

For years, Ephrata has purchased most of its power from providers including PPL and Houston-based Reliant Energy through multi-year contracts, allowing it to buy more cheaply and keep rates lower than those found on the open market.

With the recent deregulation of the power industry, however, providers no longer offer contracts, forcing Ephrata to buy higher-priced power.

Some residents' February bills jumped much higher than 40 percent. Some even tripled. Contributing to those increases, Nace said, were a colder-than-normal December and January, as well as estimates that were used for December consumption.

He did not think residents' meters are inaccurate, as some suggested Monday night.

"Residential electric meters are very accurate. They don't fail very often," he said.

Fryberger has noticed one positive aspect of the electricity mess in Ephrata.

"During winter, you never see your neighbors, but this has brought people together."


Staff writer Ryan Robinson can be reached at rrobinson@LNPnews.com or 481-6032.
blog comments powered by Disqus