City Manager Spotlight

Power Rates Explained

Typically throughout the third quarter of each year the residents experience their highest utility bills due to the hot summer and air conditioning use. Since this is on your mind, I thought I might provide you some information regarding our power utility. Washington City entered the power business in 1987 by purchasing the system from Utah Power & Light. At that time our rates were very high and our reliability very low. Residents who lived here during that period will remember extended blackouts on numerous occasions. Since that time Washington City along with our neighboring power companies have created reliability in our network of 99.989% (100% = no outages). We have been able to do this while keeping our rates very competitive. Our current residential rate averages 9.9 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh). The Utah average rate is 10.79 cents per kWh (and Utah ranks among the lowest cost states)*, and the local for-profit utility is 11.5 cents per kWh. There are those in the state that have slightly cheaper power than us and many that have substantially higher rates. You can compare your monthly bill with our neighboring utilities by using our energy calculator on our website (WashingtonCity.org/services/utilitybilling/PowerUsageCalc). No one likes to pay for power, but how grateful we are for this reliable, cost-effective service.

*ChooseEnergy.com/electricity-rates-by-state/

-Roger Carter

City Manager

rcarter@washingtoncity.org