Forest City Council Briefed on Future Electrical Costs

The Forest City Council was given a presentation on the future of electricity costs for the city, its businesses, and residents. According to officials with BGR Engineering, these costs will range from a bond issue to electrical cost spikes.

Blair Mast with the engineering firm explained that the city would have to have a ten year plan. In it, the city will have to take a look at plant costs.

He stated that there were other costs which the city should soon consider.

If the city were to decide on projects that would be making these repairs and replacements to equipment, a bond issue was suggested.

He also suggested that there would probably be other costs which would need to be addressed by the city.

Another issue which was addressed was a power supply cost spike.

The city has seen dramatic spikes before which was around five years ago at $1.3 million. According to officials, the current feeling is that there will not be another spike for the rest of the year, but that could change.

The proposal was for the city to have a 4% base rate charge increase and a 1% surcharge increase to meet the projected costs. The surcharge would eventually go away with the base rate remaining in place.

Councilman Karl Wooldridge had spoken with residents outside of city limits who said their electrical costs were much higher than those inside city limits. Mayor Ron Holland agreed.

The city council took the findings into consideration.