Lakeland Electric’s rates will increase in October and continue to rise nearly 16% over the next four years.
City commissioners unanimously approved the municipal-owned utility’s plans for a 15.87% increase to its base rate starting Oct. 1, with increases each year through 2030, at their July 20 meeting.
“The reason is straightforward, even if the timing is never ideal. Our costs have gone up, materials, equipment and the people and systems that keep the lights on have risen. The base rate has not kept pace,” Willem Strauss, LE’s assistant general manager of fiscal operations, said at a prior presentation to commissioners.
Starting Oct. 1, all Lakeland Electric customers will see their monthly customer charge rise from $14 to $15.25 a month. The monthly customer charge will gradually increase each year up to $17.50 a month in October 2029.
The majority of residential customers on LE’s standard billing should expect their total electrical bill to increase by an average of 2.4% a year for four years, Strauss said.
The average residential customer uses 1,178 kilowatt hours per month, Strauss said. This means customers’ monthly bills will be around $163.42 in October 2026.
By 2030, the average residential customer could be paying $175.12 a month if the utility’s fuel charge remains stable. That’s an increase of nearly $12 a month from current rates.
What can homeowners do about rising bills?
Lakeland Electric’s plans to increase base electrical rates over the next four years are a direct result of the utility undertaking a rate study beginning in October 2025.
Ryan Matley, principal of third-party consultant NewGen, who helped prepare the city’s rate study, said there is a way for customers to exercise control over their monthly bills.
Residential customers are billed on a tiered system, where there is a base rate for the first 1,000 kilowatt hours they use in a month, and that cost increases for power used from 1,001 to 1,500 kilowatt-hours. The rate rises again for power drawn above 1,500 kilowatt-hours.
Matley said the base rate for customers using up to 1,000 kilowatt-hours will increase by an average of 2% a year. Customers who focus on conserving power and lowering their electrical usage, might see less of an impact on their bills.
This was done intentionally to help those Lakeland Electric customers who might be on fixed or limited incomes, Matley said.
How commercial, industrial users will be impacted
Lakeland Electric’s proposed base rate hike will affect commercial and industrial customers slightly differently.
Small commercial users, about 14,000 customers, should expect to see their monthly bills increase an average of 2.8% per year. Small commercial customers will also see an increase to their monthly customer charge to help the utility cover its fixed operational costs.
The average medium-sized commercial customer will see a similar 2.8% annual change to their bill.
The rate changes will have less of an impact on the city’s large commercial customers, an average annual change of 1.2%, and its three users labeled extra large commercial, which are anticipated to pay less than 1% more annually under the new plan.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Here’s how much Lakeland Electric rates will rise starting in October
Reporting by Sara-Megan Walsh, Lakeland Ledger / The Ledger
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Sara-Megan Walsh, Lakeland Ledger | USA TODAY Network
