ACADIANA, La. (KLFY) — Erin kemp with Ownerly, a company that is researching utility use across the country, told News 10 that the average monthly bill for electricity in Louisiana was $150 last year.
“In Louisiana, our study found that the monthly bill was around $151 per month on average. That totals to about $1,800 per year. That’s actually about $22 more per month than the previous year.”
That study can be found here.
She said that consumers may be seeing an increase in what they are paying because of what utility companies are charging.
“The factor increasing the bills could be the prices increasing on what utility companies are charging.”
Utility companies like Entergy, LUS, and SLEMCO provide services for consumers throughout Acadiana. SLEMCO spokeswoman, Mary Pritchard, said that utility companies usually increase consumer charges because of the increase in fuel charges and an increase in consumer usage.
Louisiana Public Service Commissioner, Davante Lewis, also told News 10 that utilities have increased in cost because of the changing climate as well as the lack of weatherization of homes.
“So when you tackle on these older homes that are not weatherized and then you add on the changing climate which means we are getting hotter summers and hotter days and getting colder winters, it means you are having to use more and more energy to just make basic needs.”
Lewis said that it’s an issue people living in Louisiana experience because of the changes in weather, but it’s a challenge his office wants to address.
“So that is becoming one of the serious challenges we have to address if we want our bills to stay catastrophically low because they’re going to rise continuously the more the weather changes and the less our homes are prepared for them.”
