City Utilities of Springfield customers can expect to pay approximately $1 less per month toward the cost of electric service from April through September this year, compared to the same time in 2014.
That news came Thursday following the CU Board of Public Utilities meeting, where debt refinancing and bus-transfer plans were discussed.
Natural gas customers using the average volume also will see a drop of approximately $1.22 less per month during that period. The fuel rate adjustments are based on average residential usage.
CU spokesman Joel Alexander said the decrease in fuel rates is due to reduced fuel costs and lower purchased energy costs, and it’s CU’s normal operating procedure to ensure estimated fuel costs are balanced with actual fuel costs.
“Every six months we try to look at the patterns of the previous year for that time period, and based on weather conditions and customer usage, make those calculations as to the best we can, based on what fuel we think we’re going to use. That’s the unknown,” Alexander said. “If there’s an under-recovery, unfortunately we have to go back to customers and take care of that with an addition. If there was an over-recovery, what we end up doing is crediting that back to the customers.”
Alexander said the board also recommends council consider refinancing debt service on bonds issued in 2006 for construction of a second generating unit at the John Twitty Energy Center, 5100 E. Farm Road 164. Unit 2 at the JTEC complex was constructed in 2010 and bonds would expire in 2036.
“If you look at the interest and you look at the economy, the differences between the economy almost 10 years ago compared to what it is now, and what we have left to do for the next 20 years, if we can refinance what we have it has the potential to be considerable savings to our customers and our community in the long haul,” Alexander said.
In other business, Springfield-based contractor DeWitt & Associates Inc. will construct the new bus transfer station facility, to be located on College Street north of Main Street at a projected cost of $4.2 million. Alexander said the existing station located between Park Central West and West McDaniel Street is to be retired.
“We don’t know what is going to transpire with the property or the structure, being partially federally funded as it was,” Alexander said. “We’ll have to go through a federal funding disposal method for that as well.
“The Federal Transit Administration will have some say in how we do that.”
Alexander said the relocation of utilities and some streetscape work by the city of Springfield already is in progress. He said a construction timeline for the project is likely to be released by May.
“We expect to start construction probably in the coming months,” Alexander said. “It’s been a long, long time coming.“[[In-content Ad]]
