Will the Cost of Electricity Increase in 2019?

Brace up, because the first order of business in the New Year is an increase in the cost of electricity beginning, January first, 2019. If approved, it will be the second increase in six months.  This Monday, B.E.L. wrote to the Public Utilities Commission proposing to increase rates to forty-one point fifty cents per kilowatt hour for the remainder of the annual tariff period from January first to June thirtieth, 2019.  B.E.L. says the proposed increase is due to a significant increase in the cost of power since May 2018.  The utility company notes that since then, higher prices from Mexico and below average production by local hydro plants resulted in an increase in the cost of power purchased from suppliers.  It adds that while B.E.L. was in a position to absorb the eighteen point nine million dollars, it is now attempting to recover the money.  B.E.L. also states that negotiations are ongoing to secure less volatile prices from Mexico’s Comision Federal de Electricidad that are typically lower than prices from local suppliers. In June of this year, the rates were increased from thirty-six point nine cents per kilo-watt hour, to thirty-nine point three cents.