SRP adds 6% rate hike

The 6% rate increase the board approved on Monday will go into effect on November's bills.

Electricity rates will be going up by an average of nearly 6 percent for customers of the Salt River Project.

SRP's board of directors approved the overall 5.9 percent increase to help pay for increased costs of natural gas and other fuel for power plants and electricity bought from outside the company.

Residential customers will see bills increase by an average of 5.1 percent. The average homeowner will see winter bills go up by $4.70 a month and summer bills increase by $7.89 a month.

The increase the board approved on Monday will go into effect on November's bills. SRP is making no additional profit on the fuel-cost adjustment.

SRP serves about 935,000 customers, primarily in Maricopa and Pinal counties.

SRP to raise rates one more time

SRP is going to raise their rates one more time this year. This makes it the second rate hike within this year, actually, within the past 6 months. Hopefully it will not be a 20%+ hike like the last rate increase!

In addition, water companies are also raising their rates at this time. Cities such as Avondale are having town hall meetings to inform their customers on how the rate hikes will effect them.

Troubled times are here to stay it seems...

SRP to raise rate, AGAIN!

The Salt River Project, SRP, expects to raise its rates by 5 to 7 percent in November to help pay or higher fuel costs.

Chief financial executive Mike Bonsall says the higher rates are needed even though fuel prices have dropped in recent months. Dropping prices will keep the rate boost in check but not eliminate it entirely. Bonsall says fuel cost overruns totaled 80 million dollars through July. The average monthly bill is expected to rise by $5.40 to $7.45 depending on the size of the rate hike. The utility board will meet in October to decide how high to raise prices. Because S-R-P is a quasi-public agency, it isn't regulated by the Arizona Corporation Commission. That means it can raise it rates without approval by regulators. But Bonsall says the utility won't make a profit from the rate increase. It's just passing on its costs. S-R-P serves 935,000 customers, primarily in Maricopa and Pinal counties.

This comes after SRP raised rate nearly 20% only a few months ago. This comes at the worst time possible.Gas prices are outrageous, people are losing their jobs left and right, and the housing market is horrible. To top it all off, this rate hike comes just before Christmas!