Lawrence residents will get a double whammy from the higher electricity costs announced Wednesday: They'll pay their own higher bills and be on the hook for increased energy expenditures by local governments.
Paul Hunt, resources director at the Ballard Center, 708 Elm St., said the increase could cause a few more families to seek help from his agency's utility-assistance program. But rate increases usually don't have a dramatic effect at his agency, largely because people who seek help there are "nowhere close" to being able to pay their utility bills.
"If they can't pay it, they can't pay it," he said. "Usually, it's not that they can't pay it by $2.50 or $5."
Lawrence officials said Wednesday they had increased their 2006 budgets with the expectation electricity bills could rise dramatically.
"We knew we were going to get a bump of some kind, and we made an adjustment in the (2006) budget. We think we have covered a 5 percent increase without too much trouble," City Manager Mike Wildgen said. City Hall cut the property tax rate by 1.5 mills for the 2006 budget.
He said city budget-makers did not think the KCC would grant Westar its full rate increase request, but the city did budget for a 9 percent increase in electricity costs.
The city's largest electrical user is the water and wastewater system, Wildgen said. The city's two water plants each use about $300,000 in electricity each year, while the city's wastewater pump stations consume about $125,000 in electricity.
When Douglas County government officials prepared their 2006 budget, they expected utility rates could increase as much as 10 percent and budgeted accordingly, County Administrator Craig Weinaug said. The county increased property taxes slightly for 2006.
"The impact of the rate increase is that it really doesn't have any impact," Weinaug said. "We are basically prepared for it."
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