By Tina Kitt
    The Wauneta Breeze
    
     The cost of electricity to the Village of Wauneta Utilities Department has been on a constant rise for the last few years. Since April 2003 - the last time an electric rate hike was implemented for Wauneta's electrical customers - the utilities department has absorbed these increases.
     That will likely come to an end next week, when members of the Wauneta Village Board are expected to approve a rate increase. The question at this point is not if an increase will be enacted, but how big will it be?
     In 2003, a 7 percent increase was approved to offset several small wholesale rate increases and a larger, 6.6 percent increase in the cost of electricity provided by Nebraska Public Power District.
     Prior to that, increases of 5 percent annually were implemented in 1997, 1998 and 1999.
     This time around an increase of at least 3.5 percent will be needed just to offset wholesale electrical increases already being borne by the Village. An increase of 7.3 percent will be needed to get everything current and "paying its own way," advised Don Suda, with Southwest Public Power District, which conducted a mini-rate study for the Village earlier this year.
     For the past several months, said Wauneta Utilities Superintendent Bill Bischoff, the electric department has been operating at a loss.
     The 7.3 percent increase would help cover the added expense of a wheeling charge on a transmission line north of town that takes effect in July after a 30-plus year waiver from SWPPD. The wheeling charge is projected to total $14,137 over 12 months.
     The Village of Wauneta sold the line to SWPPD more than three decades ago because they could not afford the equipment to maintain the line, which carries power west to Enders. Wauneta was granted over 30 years of free usage, as per the sale agreement. The line is on track for $180,000 in upgrading work later this year.
     The Village is expected to be assessed a monthly wheeling charge of $1,100 to $1,400, based on usage. Factoring in that cost, the Village will see an additional 3 percent increase in their costs, on top of the wholesale power cost jump.
     Even with these increases, Wauneta is expected to continue to provide some of the most affordable power in Nebraska, a state known to have some of the lowest rates in the nation.
     According to a 2003 survey of 91 electric providers in Nebraska, Colorado and Iowa, Wauneta's summer rates were the 24th most affordable and its winter rates the 25th, based on typical bills of residential customers using 2,500 kilowatt hours.
     In 2004, the Village had gross electrical sales of $466,880. A rate increase of 3.5 percent will generate an extra $16,340; a rate increase of 7.3 percent will generate an extra $34,082 in electric sales. Any profits from these sales are used to help fund Village operations.
     The Village Board is expected to vote on a rate hike at their next meeting, Tuesday, March 8 at 7 p.m. MT.