At the time of the PUC vote on March 27, commissioners said their increase would take effect immediately. PUC vote May 14 Various plans are being presented this week to an administrative law judge working for the commission. The judge is expected to recommend a rate structure to the PUC on May 4. Public hearings would follow May 7-11, and the commission would vote on a plan May 14, condensing to a few weeks a process that normally lasts nearly a year. That's mandated under a new law that allows the state to buy power.
Customers already pay higher rates for exceeding their baseline.
But that's where the similarities end. Business customers would see proportionately greater increases, averaging 30 percent under Lynch's proposal and 26 percent under Davis'. They suggest an overall average residential increase of 7.5 percent. TURN's plan assumes utilities cannot charge other customers more to make up for the energy misers shielded from rate increases under state law. The utility wants other residential users to make up for any lost revenue from exempted customers through higher rates.