Activists Tout Anti-Business Utility Reforms
A controversy is brewing between local businesses and the activist group Public Citizen of San Antonio over rates and a coal-burning power plant operated by CPS Energy, the municipally owned public utility, according to local news reports.
The activists, led by Dee-Dee Belmares, complain that the utility’s 760,000 residential customers pay an $8.75 monthly service fee, plus 7 cents for each kilowatt of power they use. The average household uses 1,100 kilowatt hours per month, the article said. CPS’ roughly 90,000 business customers pay rates of between 3-7 cents per kWh, depending on their size. Belmares says the rate differential is unfair to consumers. She’s leading a petition drive that’s seeking to collect 20,000 signatures by the end of this year. If the group is successful, a recall measure will appear on municipal ballots that could lead to a restructuring of the utility’s leadership. Public Citizen wants city council members to oversee the utility, arguing that they would be more accountable to rate payers.
Business leaders, including Patrick Garcia, president of Division Laundry in San Antonio, oppose the restructuring move. They say the current system is more than fair, pointing out that while commercial customers make up about 10% of the utility’s customer base, they pay nearly half (48%) of its revenues. Altering the current rate structure would increase costs for businesses. Several business leaders said this could hurt the area’s competitiveness.
Garcia defended the current process for determining rates, noting a high degree of transparency and discussion that takes place among the various parties. “How our utilities are being run, and how they project rate increases and how that gets through the pipeline through City Council – it’s all done in a manner with a lot logic, a lot of time, a lot of energy spent, and every major stakeholder in this city gets involved,” he said.
Another source quoted in the San Antonio Express News, Rey Chavez, president of the San Antonio Manufacturers Association, said the proposed CPS changes could hurt the local economy. “Eighty-nine percent of the businesses in San Antonio are small-to medium-sized – 100 employees or less – so these businesses are the backbone of our economy,” Chavez said. “If there was a big change (in CPS’ electricity rates), they would vote with their feet and leave, or they would start cutting jobs. Click here to read the full article.