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.
