New El Paso Electric rates drives bills up for some residents
EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — Some El Pasoans noticed higher electricity bills, some saying it’s the highest charge they’ve seen.
El Paso Electric said what residents are seeing are summer rates and newly-approved rates taking effect.
With these changes, some EPE customers said their bill tripled.
Katherine Laca said she already struggles to balance household expenses while raising her daughter.
“I can’t have enough money to buy her what she needs for school, what she needs because I need to pay the bill,” Laca said.
Laca said her monthly electric bill is usually around $35. But when she opened her latest bill, she found a charge of $182.
“$182, and, well, I want to know what’s going on,” she said.
El Paso Electric said two factors contributed to the increase.
The first is new electric rates that were approved by state regulators and recently took effect. The utility said the rate review process had been underway for more than a year and was needed to recover the cost of replacing aging infrastructure and maintaining reliable service.
“It was approved and implemented,” a company spokesperson said. “The reason that we went for a rate review is because we were trying to recover costs with updating old and outdated infrastructure to ensure reliability across the board because that’s one of our priorities.”
The second factor is seasonal summer pricing, which remains in effect through October.
Customers may notice charges on their bills listed as “Summer 1st Tier” and, for some, a second-tier rate. The utility said the first tier covers electricity use between 0 and 600 kilowatt-hours. Residential customers who use more than 600 kilowatt-hours are billed at a higher rate, with usage above that threshold charged at about 14 cents per kilowatt-hour.
For Laca, the higher bill has added financial pressure.
She said she may have to find look for extra work to cover utility costs and prepare for her daughter’s school expenses.
“Two jobs to find, paying the bills and then get my daughter for her school, things like she needs,” Laca said.
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