KERENS–Kerens City Council adopted a resolution June 7 to push back by three months Oncor Electric Delivery’s base rate increase request for customers under Kerens’ jurisdiction. 
Oncor, the largest electric delivery company in Texas, states in a news release that the company is seeking a $251 million annual revenue increase over current adjusted rates by filing a May 13 comprehensive base rate increase request with the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) and with cities in the Oncor service area that have original jurisdiction over the company’s rates.
According to the release, the new rates could result in a 4.2 percent overall increase on bills for the average residential customer using 1,300 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity per month with a retail electric plan charging 11 cents per kWh. This will mean a cost increase of 20 cents per day or $6.02 per month, the release states.
Kerens City Administrator Katherine Combs said delaying the rate increase’s effective date from June 17 to Sept. 15 will give more time for attorneys with the Steering Committee of Cities Served by Oncor – which the steering committee’s website says represents consumer interests in regulatory proceedings, with membership of more than 140 Texas cities – to negotiate the rate increase request.
Kemp and Malakoff also are members of the steering committee, according to the online list of cities affiliated with the steering committee, last updated May 5.
Oncor’s release states it, along with every other transmission and distribution utility in the state, is required to regularly file comprehensive rate reviews. The company’s last comprehensive rate review occurred in 2017, the release says. That year, Oncor requested a $317 million hike, which was reduced to $118 million, according to PUCT’s final order on the rate review application.
Oncor says in its release that the rate increase is to “recover the costs associated with significant system investments and continue meeting growth needs across the state.” Oncor’s release also says that since the beginning of 2017, the company has added nearly 10,000 miles of new and rebuilt transmission and distribution lines, nearly 355,000 new customer connections and approximately 200 new substations.