Growing need for electricity, plus decrease in availability, leads to proposed 15 percent rate hike in Hannibal

HANNIBAL, Mo. — Hannibal Board of Public Works General Manager Darrin Gordon doesn’t want to deliver the bad news, but in this case, he believes he must.

“We’re going to tell everyone the good news, the bad news,” Gordon said. “We just have bad news to bring.”

The news is that Hannibal residents could soon see a 15 percent increase in their electric bill if the Board of Public Works passes a proposal at its Sept. 16 meeting.

“(The board members) are going to be able to discuss it, vote on it, and then we’ll be able to implement it Oct. 1 if they pass it,” Gordon said. “We just have to make sure we have all the information for them.”

The primary reason for the rate increase is a growing need for electricity combined with a decrease in the availability of electricity. The retirement of coal power plants has contributed largely to this problem, and as coal power plants continue to be retired, Gordon foresees the problem intensifying.

“As coal power plants come off, you have to replace them,” Gordon said. “What we’re replacing it with right now is renewables, and the thing with renewables is they don’t do any generation when the sun’s not shining and the wind’s not blowing. When that disappears and you have no other generation, you’re short. You have no electricity, you’ll have blackouts, brownouts, etc. 

“Take a look at California. They have their own issues. We’re just simply following that model as a nation, and that’s a problem.”

Gordon hopes whoever wins the November presidential election takes a long hard look at solutions to this ever-growing issue.

“I sure hope there’s a change,” Gordon said. “I hope whoever is in recognizes this is a sincere and very dire problem for the entire nation. Something needs to change.”

The proposed 15 percent increase came from a study brought to the HBPW by Utility Financial Solutions. Gordon believes this increase is feasible to allow the HBPW to keep the electric fund on track and in good standing.

“We do have a report, and it’s preliminary, and that’s because we had to start in certain timeframes,” Gordon said. “UFS did everything they could to get it to us in a timely manner. While it says preliminary, we believe those numbers are very good and that it’s appropriate to go forward with the proposal for 15 percent.”

Gordon doesn’t expect further increases for at least a year.

“We plan on it staying exactly the way it is,” he said. “This is a fee that comes because of the cost of our energy. We know exactly what it is. It’s a capacity charge, and that charge is going to be on our bill that we pay for the next 12 months. Because of that, we know exactly what it is, so we don’t have to change that at all. The other part of a bill increase comes because of operations and maintenance costs.”

The board held a special meeting and rate hearing Monday at the HBPW Conference Center to discuss the proposal. The HBPW has a narrow window in which they can present the information — within 30 days of but no later than 15 days before when it would be enacted.

“We wanted to talk to the public. We wanted to get it out to them as early as we could,” Gordon said. “We are thrilled for the people who came and the questions that were asked.”

One of the concerns that arose during the public comments portion of the meeting was the increase in late fees for missing a payment. Under the new proposal, the late fee would be a maximum of $50. Gordon encouraged anyone having trouble paying their bill to pursue any of the multiple available assistance options.

“One of the things we have is called a round-up program where if somebody pays their bill, you just round it up to the whole dollar or you could actually give more,” Gordon said. “That goes into a fund that we then give to the Douglass Foundation, which takes that money to people in need. People who are having problems with their utility bill can go there and seek assistance. We’d love to help people who are having those struggles. Please come in, talk to us. There are some avenues that we can send them to to help.”

Gordon believes transparency is key, even if that means delivering unwelcome news.

“I personally believe in being transparent,” he said. “I’ve got a staff that is just fantastic. They’re honest, hardworking, they love Hannibal, they want to do everything for the community. We have nothing to hide.”