The Chief Utilities Engineer for City Water Light and Power says it’s a hard concept to take, but the proposed rate structure the City Council will vote on Tuesday night is straight-forward.

Doug Brown says he’s not trying to hide anything about the plan to increase the base charge but lower non-fixed rates, and despite what’s been expressed at previous council meetings, residents seem to like the plan.

“The businesses, especially, are excited to see their bills going down, pretty much across the board,” says Brown.  “The residential customers are also having good comments.”

Brown says in some cases, those who have claimed their bills are going up, were shown that wouldn’t truly be the case.  He says 85 to 90 percent of customers of CWLP will see their rates going down.

It’s been called a “revenue neutral” plan that will make bond rating agencies happy.  But Brown says the rate restructuring plan the City Council will vote on tonight actually means more money through the utility, because coal prices are most likely going down.

“The fuel adjustment charge is gong down, and our meter charge is going up only half that amount.  So, our revenues are actually decreasing technically.  This is from an accounting standpoint,” says Brown.  “But, we are getting more income through saving on our expense line.”

Brown says that means saving more money on the expense line, that can be shown to the bond rating agencies — and that, in turn, means he’ll be able to show having 60 days cash on hand within three years, which is what the agencies want.