Flathead Electric Co-op to hike rates in June

Beginning in June, Flathead Electric Cooperative members will see a 2.5 percent increase in their monthly electricity rates, according to a press release issued April 26.

“Flathead Electric will implement an overall annualized increase to rate revenues of 2.5 percent, which will be reflected on electric bills issued on or after June 1, 2016. The increase will raise the average residential members’ monthly bill by $2.67,” public relations office Wendy Ostrom Price wrote in the release.

The rate increase is the result of two increases implemented by Flathead’s supplier, Bonneville Power Authority, in October 2015. Bonneville increased wholesale power rates by 7.2 percent at that time, along with increasing transmission costs by 5.6 percent. BPA sets wholesale and transmission rates on a two-year cycle, so those rates will be locked until Sept. 30, 2017.

Although BPA rates won’t increase again until next fall, however, Flathead Electric Cooperative general manager Mark Johnson said Flathead Electric Cooperative members can expect another similar rate increase for next year. The cooperative’s board of trustees decided in February to continue Flathead’s policy to adjust rates incrementally, trying to moderate larger swings in rates to help customers adjust to changing costs.

“We don’t want to see rates change by eight percent one year, and then maybe nothing the next, and then by 10 or 12 percent again after that,” he said. “The board looks at a 10-year view and tries to spread out rate increases over the long-term to stabilize rates for our members.”