The Fayetteville Public Works Commission will soon have new electricity rate plans for its massive consumers of electricity, such as factories, whose bills may run into the tens of millions of dollars per year.
The PWC — Fayetteville’s city-owned electricity, water and sewer provider — is holding a public hearing on Wednesday morning regarding its new proposed rates, called Large Service Rates. The board may then approve the rates following the hearing.
An electricity customer at this scale may use as much power as 10,000 homes, PWC spokeswoman Carolyn Justice-Hinson said.
The PWC buys electricity from Duke Energy Progress and resells the power to its customers. The PWC’s new industrial-scale rates are set based on provisions in the PWC’s current contract with Duke that weren’t in the previous contract, Justice-Hinson said.
The PWC’s public hearing notice webpage says some of the new rates would take effect May 1, some on July 1, and some on May 1, 2025.
For example, some large customers pay a $20,000 monthly basic facility charge to be connected to the PWC’s electric grid. That will become $25,000 on July 1, according to documentation on the PWC’s website.
The standard electricity price for customers in that group would remain about 2.9 cents per kilowatt hour.
At the same time, some other prices levied for peak demand in that customer category would drop. One of these would fall from $18.43 per kilowatt to $15.22 per kilowatt. Another charge drops from $6.65 per kilowatt to $2.26 per kilowatt.
A presentation given to the PWC’s board this month said PWC’s industrial electrical rates will be competitive. It said an industrial customer with the PWC may pay $27.3 million a year for power, while the same customer with Duke would pay $33.8 million.
The public hearing on the new rates is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Wednesday at the PWC’s headquarters building, 955 Old Wilmington Road. People who wish to address the commissioners during the hearing must register in advance, and will each be given three minutes to speak.
People can register on Wednesday between 8 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. in the PWC’s board room. People may also submit their name and address to pwcboard@faypwc.com, or they can fax this information to 910-829-0207.
More information, and a form to submit comments, is on the PWC’s website. Click here to access the documents and form.
Those who wish to observe the meeting remotely may do so online via a livestream or via telephone. Click here for instructions on how to connect.
Senior reporter Paul Woolverton can be reached at 910-261-4710 and pwoolverton@cityviewnc.com.
This story was made possible by contributions to CityView News Fund, a 501c3 charitable organization committed to an informed democracy.
