© 2024 WFSU Public Media
WFSU News · Tallahassee · Panama City · Thomasville
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

City Commission Approves Utility Hike

Don Shall

The Tallahassee City Commission has voted to increase electric rates for businesses. Officials say the cost to provide electricity to the city’s businesses is not covered by the utility payments businesses make. Some business owners asked the city to consider reducing operating expenses instead of a rate hike, but Commissioner Nancy Miller says the utility is already keeping costs as low as it can.

“When you look at the pattern of operating expenses the fact that they’re serving so many more people than they were five or ten years ago at virtually the same operating cost, and see the things that they have chosen to do to keep those cots constrained, it’s extremely professional,” Miller says.

The steepest increase comes for larger businesses at 5.7 percent. Commissioners also approved a water rate increase for all customers. Depending on a customer’s water usage, officials say residents could see an increase as small as 75-cents per month.

Follow @Regan_McCarthy

Regan McCarthy is the Assistant News Director for WFSU Public Media. Before coming to Tallahassee, Regan graduated with honors from Indiana University’s Ernie Pyle School of Journalism. She worked for several years for NPR member station WFIU in Bloomington, Ind., where she covered local and state government and produced feature and community stories.

Phone: (850) 645-6090 | rmccarthy@fsu.edu

Find complete bio, contact info, and more stories here.