Electric rate hike reduced
Published 12:00 am Saturday, December 17, 2005
WINDSOR – The increase in fuel rates for citizens of the town of Windsor are only half instituted.
In November, the Windsor Board of Commissioners voted to raise electric rates to pass along the surcharge for fuel that had been passed on to the town.
During December’s meeting, Mayor Bob Spivey said only part of that cost had been passed on at this point.
&uot;I have a good news, bad news item,&uot; he said. &uot;As (Town Administrator) David Overton and I were researching this, it seems that in November of 2004, we were advised that Dominion was raising their rates by .00634 and at that time we adjusted our rates to include it.
&uot;Even though we got the letter, upon our research, we found out the rates had never changed,&uot; he added.
Spivey said electric bills were going out soon after the information was discovered, so he and Overton made the decision to pass on about half of the fuel surcharge agreed to in November.
&uot;We need to return this to our customers,&uot; Spivey said. &uot;We’ve done it once and if we do it five more times, we will have repaid them.&uot;
Spivey said the November bills sent out for electricity did not have a line item showing the fuel surcharge because the software wasn’t available to the town to do that. He said it would be shown henceforth.
In other business, the Board:
* agreed to give the Choanoke Area Development Association $510 for child restraints which are mandated by law for the CADA vehicles;
* granted a permanent easement to Howard Small to allow more modern mobile homes on Spruill Lane;
* received an audit report expressing an unqualified opinion; and
* approved a policy to not spend taxpayer money to help drainage on private property.