Longmont proposes electric rate increases

Longmont Power and Communications will present Longmont City Council with an electric rate increase on Tuesday. The proposal suggests a 6.8% increase in energy use and demand charges for 2024 and 2025.

Tuesday night, the Longmont City Council will hear a presentation concerning the rate increases. The proposed increase could raise the cost of electricity in Longmont by an average of $5.16 per month in 2024 and $5.62 per month in 2025.

Longmont Power and Communications last asked for rate increases in 2022 and 2023. Those increases were 2.5% or $1.79 per month and 2.1% or $1.61 per month respectively. 

Raven Martin, rate analyst for Longmont Power and Communications, said the rate increases are largely due to a 5% increase in wholesale power from Platte River Power Authority which will use the increased costs to meet renewable energy goals by building new infrastructure. The impact of the increases is a total of $3.3 million in 2024 and $4.1 million in 2025. 

Inflation has also caused a need to increase electric rates through higher contractor, labor, equipment and material expenses amounting to a projected $2.3 million in 2024 and $1.1 million in 2025. 

Additionally, Longmont Power and Communications is in need of some capital improvements which are expected to total $2 million in 2024 and $862,000 in 2025. The improvements include aging infrastructure such as distribution lines and substation transformers. 

Longmont Power and Communications projects that its annual revenue for 2024 to be $90 million and $90.8 million in 2025. These sums are expected to be less than what the service provider requires each year. In 2024 it proposes needing a budget of $97.8 million and $101.8 million in 2025.

Longmont CAReS program — adopted in 2019 to provide rebates to income-qualified residents — is available to assist with utility fees. According to Scott Rochat, public relations and marketing specialist at Longmont Power and Communications, the proposed increases will help offset the increases for Longmont CAReS recipients. 

“We are conscious of the need to minimize this impact to our ratepayers as much as we can and we’re doing our best that, even with this adjustment, these electric rates still remain among the lowest in Colorado,” Rochat said. 

If the proposed rate increases are approved by council, Longmont will have the third lowest electric rates in Colorado, according to Longmont Power and Communications. 

The first reading of an electric rate increase will go before council on Sept. 12 with a second reading scheduled for Oct. 24.