GREENWELL SPRINGS, La. (BRPROUD) — It has been a rough year for electricity companies with storms like Hurricane Ida battering the power grid.
For most Entergy customers, power restoration from Hurricane Ida took around one month. While some DEMCO customers had to wait longer due to transmission infrastructure repairs.
Are you one of those DEMCO customers? The power might be back now, but so are higher electricity bills.
The head of DEMCO Randy Pierce is taking the current situation head-on.
The CEO and General Manager of DEMCO sent this message to customers:
Dear Members,
In “Louisiana experiences a dramatic 12% average increase in electricity bills during October”, The Advocate’s Capitol Bureau Editor Mark Ballard wrote, “The price of natural gas which fuels 70% of electricity-making plants in Louisiana, increased 78% since last October.”
And, “An October report compiled by the Louisiana Public Service Commission is cited, stating two million or so electricity customers are facing higher bills in October this year compared to last.”
Clearly high bills are not a DEMCO-specific issue, but I know that high bills are affecting every DEMCO member, so I want to address it.
Not only is the price of natural gas up by 78%, but as stated in the article “Cleco had to fire up its aged and expensive Dolet Hills plant in Mansfield to provide enough power to cover its additional needs this year. Those costs will be on bills until the plant is closed at the end of the year.”
The bottom line is that DEMCO members are experiencing high bills due to the structure of our current wholesale power contract.
Know that even before the last four months of high bills, and at the direction of the DEMCO board of directors, a new wholesale power contract has been negotiated, signed and submitted to the Louisiana Public Service Commission (LPSC) for review and approval.
If approved by the LPSC, the new wholesale power contract will go into effect when the current contract expires in early 2024. In the meantime, DEMCO members should see some rate relief in the near future.
If you have any questions or concerns, visit DEMCO.