Maybe they'll even throw in something about Southern Union, too. Southern Union blames it on the increase in natural gas prices, and claims it doesn't make a profit off the increased bills because it's only passing on the price it pays for supply. Regarding the Electric Company request for an increase, the city has 60 days from the time it was filed to ask for a hearing from the state's utility commission. The hearing must take place within 90 days of the time the request was filed. So the city would seem to have ample time to make such a request.
Next week ought to be interesting.
The city appears to be creating a plan for handling rates. Whether or not it should have seen this trouble coming and taken action earlier is up for debate. That's a substantive issue, and hopefully it will be dealt within the coming week and on next Tuesday. As for the tangle of election politics and city business, well, there's only another three and a half months of it left, so we'll muddle through somehow.