Fairburn council members Feb. 13 voted unanimously to adjust the city’s electric rate structure. Expected to take effect in April, residential users will see an increase in rates while commercial and industrial users will see a mix of adjustments depending on their consumption rates.

City Administrator Jim Williams told council members Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia (MEAG) had been asked several months ago to study the city’s rate structure and make recommendations. Now completed, the study shows some disparities that have arisen over the past five years, he said. The study called for an overall rate increase of 4.40 percent, with rates for some service categories increasing and others decreasing. The new rates are expected to take effect in April.

The study recommended changes for each of the city’s five billing categories. Recommendations, and the subsequent council vote, resulted in a 9.89 percent increase for residential customers, a 6.88 percent decrease for general service, non-demand customers, a 1.39 percent decrease for small power service customers, a 9.81 percent increase for medium use customers and a 3.31 percent decrease for large use customers.

Prior to the vote, Williams said the current rate structure does not properly support the reserve fund, adding that those rates require the larger customers to subsidize both residential and other low consumption users. Each customer category should pay its own way, Williams said, and absorb an equitable share of volatile peak-hour costs that are now being largely borne by the city’s three largest industrial customers.

During the discussion phase, Williams, council member Ron Alderman and others referenced the rational that led to the decision to adjust the rates. Alderman cited five conditions, saying that rates had been held at the same level for five years, that Georgia Power rates had increased by double digits and that Fairburn’s rates are still lower than those charged by the Electric Membership Corporations (EMCs) and Georgia Power. He added that the city’s electric fund is currently running a deficit and that competitive rates for large power users are needed to continue to attract industry.

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