CU board approves rate increase, 2007 budget

The Board of Public Utilities approved the multiyear phased-in rate increase and sent the proposal to Springfield City Council, which is scheduled to consider it Tuesday.

The increase would begin in 2007 and rise incrementally until 2010. Residential customers’ bill would be raised by $1.65 at that time.

About $3.3 million would be generated from the increase, according to CU Director of Communications Ern DeCamp. That would fund capital improvement projects, including a raw water pipeline between Fellows Lake and Blackman Water Treatment plant, water storage tanks, and a Stockton Lake pump.

The board also approved CU’s 2007 budget yesterday, which authorizes the utility to spend $490 million. The budget also calls for $499.3 million in revenues, DeCamp said.

Priority capital improvement projects next year include the raw water pipeline in addition to the natural gas peak shaving plant and emission control equipment at both CU’s existing and under-construction power plants.

Work on the peak-shaving plant is slated to begin next month, with completion set for next summer, in time for operation in January 2008, DeCamp said. That facility will use propane to supplement natural gas on days when demand is at its peaks.

In a separate action, the board approved expenditures totaling $641 million for CU’s second power plant, for which construction has just begun.