Users balk at CPS rate hike

The utility wants to increase rates 7.5 percent for electricity and 8.5 percent for gas. Total impact on power bills would be just over 4 percent. The money would help the cash-strapped utility finish the Spruce 2 coal plant and two natural gas units. It would also fund a number of environmental and infrastructure projects.

“We are entering a new cycle of major infrastructure,” acting General Manager Jelynne LeBlanc-Burley told the audience at the Villita Assembly Building. “We have significant environmental and sustainability projects ahead of us.”

Eight of the 10 people who commented Monday were critical of the proposed rate increases. Some said they didn't trust the utility in light of the recent scandal over nuclear project cost estimates that prompted the resignations of two high-level CPS executives.

“The working class, on the back of which you guys are riding, is hurting,” said Raymond Zavala. “But you can only go so far.”

CPS' board will vote on the proposal Wednesday. The City Council will take up the issue Feb. 18.

The increase would be the first in a series the utility said is necessary every other year for the next decade or so.

CPS last increased rates in 2008. The utility asked for 5 percent that year, but the City Council reduced it to 3.5 percent when the portion of the increase that was slated for the nuclear project became controversial. That was the first rate increase in 17 years.

LeBlanc-Burley said the smaller-than-requested increase in 2008 and the recession have left the utility in need of more money despite recent steps to reduce costs. These include hiring and wage freezes and postponing street-lighting and tree-trimming projects.

“Those kind of actions are not sustainable when you talk about providing reliable energy,” said LeBlanc-Burley, who has taken over CPS since the nuclear debacle.