(
Host) Many of Vermont’s electric customers will have to pay more for power in the new year.
Three different utilities have won approval to raise their rates or are asking for the state’s permission.
Customers of Washington Electric Cooperative will see an increase of nearly 24 percent in their bills.
General Manager Avram Patt says while it’s a large increase, it’s the first customers have seen in 11 years. Patt says the increase is due to flat electricity sales and increasing costs such as labor and health care.
(Patt) "About half of the increase however is caused by a decline in the value of the renewable energy certificates that we sell which come from our landfill methane plant in Coventry."
(Host) Patt says the methane plant has been a significant source of revenue for the co-op. The increase is under review by the state’s Public Service Board, so it will appear as a temporary surcharge on bills for the time being.
Customers of the state’s largest utility – Central Vermont Public Service – will see an increase of just under seven-and a half percent.
Spokesman Steve Costello says much of that increase is to pay for improvements to the transmission system to make it more reliable.
(Costello) "Certainly all utilities are facing increasing transmission costs, the New England grid has seen a lot of improvement in the last two to three years and will continue to see some expansion over the next several years as well, and those costs have to be born by all customers across the region."
(Host) Last week, Vermont Electric Cooperative announced a rate increase of a little more than two percent.