Your Oncor Bill Will Be Going Up

Your Oncor Bill Will Be Going Up

By Robert Wilonsky Mon., Apr. 18 2011 at 9:03 AM

Back in late January Oncor told the Public Utility Commission it wanted to raise Dallas residents' electricity bill by, oh, let's say $4 to $5 a month. Even though there'd been a three-buck jump in your bill only two years ago. Said Oncor, look, it had no choice: People aren't wasting electricity like they used to, the customer base isn't growing like it ought to, and it's investing, like, hundreds in infrastructure upgrades. (I kid?)

The city council delayed the inevitable while it the 147-cities-strong Oncor Cities Steering Committee negotiated a more "reasonable" rate hike with the power provider. On Wednesday, the council gets the news: Residents won't see that 16.5-percent spike after all. Instead, Oncor's going to raise rates by 6.2 percent -- which should run most residents somewhere around $1.50 more per month, on average. Also part of the settlement: Oncor will only trim trees "reactively" as opposed to cyclically. And there's a rate-hike freeze -- two whole years. Unless there's a strong sustained wind, in which case all bets are off.

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abuckley1970

people aren't wasting electricity like they used to? great...we cut back consumption all for the sake of our bills and for the environment *cough*...hmmm...no good deed goes unpunished?

Jon

Oncor did not say that... it was the writer of the article

So they get more money and as part of the "settlement" they agree to do less.

TimCov

I have a real problem with the reactive instead of proactive tree trimming. But, I can understand it. Whenever Oncor has tried to trim people's trees away from powerlines, they have had people threatening to assault anyone who touches there trees. You can't have reliable power and not trim the trees away from the lines. And, I would rather have Oncor doing it than face the possibility of having my power knocked out by some hamfisted idiot with a chainsaw (who is not bonded and insured) hired by my neighbor (happened to a friend, and it caused several thousand dollars worth of damage to her home).

Steve

"Also part of the settlement: Oncor will only trim trees "reactively" as opposed to cyclically."

So, instead of being responsible and doing everything they can to ensure their customers power stays on, like occasionally checking to see if trees are in danger of knocking out lines, they'll just wait until the lines are knocked out and then trim whatever's left of the tree. Brilliant. I've come to dread winter because i have no faith that these idiots are capable of simply doing their job and keeping the power on, time to get a generator.

Guest

"We're so incompetent that we can't even keep the lights on in neighborhoods with buried power lines when the wind blows a little bit, so we need more money."

Wylie H.

If Oncor is so tight on cash, how were they able to cough up $1 million "donation" to support one of Leppert's political initiatives prior to his resignation? Was the $1 million some sort of understood quid pro quo, under which Leppert would help get this increase through the Oncor Cities Steering Committee?