March 14, 2018 • EPE Related News
KTSM: City plan for El Paso Electric fee could affect customer bills
EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) - Those savings we were all expecting to see in our upcoming electric bills could end up being a little less than we thought.
That's because the City of El Paso is looking to increase how much it charges the El Paso Electric Company to use city streets, rights of way, and public places. This is known as a franchise fee.
Right now, the city charges the utility four percent of its total revenue from customers who live within city limits. City leaders are considering increasing the fee by one percent, bringing it to five percent.
If passed, that would mean an extra 90 cents per month for the average residential customer as soon as May, according to El Paso Electric.
"The way franchise agreements work, and have worked for several years, is that they are collected through customers," El Paso Electric Spokesman George De La Torre told KTSM.
"If the additional one percent is approved, customers can expect to see that as a separate line item in their bill," De La Torre added.
City officials told KTSM even with the added fee, customers would still see a roughly three percent drop in their bills following the recent overhaul of the tax code.
El Paso Economic Development Director Jessica Herrera said the money generated by the fee hike—about $5 million—would be used exclusively to attract new companies to the Sun City and bring in higher paying jobs.
"We really need to stay competitive," Herrera told KTSM. "We're competing globally."
According to city documents, the City would also be able to use the money for other economic development purposes such as "infrastructure as reasonably determined by the City."
City Council will take up the issue at its next regular meeting on Tuesday.
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