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One of
the complaints small businesses have had
about the Town of Wake Forest’s electric
rates has been the low threshold between
the rates for a small commercial
customer and a large one.
Plus, once you are on the
higher rate you must remain there a
year.
Tuesday night the town
commissioners voted to increase the
threshold between small and large
commercial from 20 to 30 KW beginning
with the first billing cycle after July
1. It will affect 34 small businesses
spread across the community.
The problem is that Wake
Forest Power’s income will be reduced by
between $50,000 and $60,000 a year,
Deputy Town Manager Roe O’Donnell said.
Wake Forest Power, although
owned by the town, is operated as an
enterprise fund using rates and fees to
fund its operations.
That loss of revenue – and
the need to make it up somewhere else
with other customers – bothered
Commissioner David Camacho, who was the
only one to vote against the motion to
approve the change.
“Who do you give the bill to
for giving these guys a break?” Camacho
asked.
Commissioner Frank Drake
said the burden could be spread to the
commercial customers. The town has 470
small commercial and 138 large
commercial customers. |
