Tyler

By CINDY MALLETTE
Staff Writer

Tyler City Council members have asked Oncor Electric Delivery Company to delay planned rate increases until city officials have an opportunity to look more closely at the proposed increase.

City Council members approved the resolution ordering a 90-day suspension in a unanimous vote on Wednesday.

Oncor filed an application on June 27 with cities across the state to increase system-wide transmission and distribution rates by $275 million. Charles Hill, regional manager for Oncor, said the distribution rate makes up only 20 percent of the total bill, so the increases would apply to less than a quarter of the total amount of the bill.

Due to statewide utilities deregulation, he said, Oncor and other electricity companies don’t necessarily supply the energy to the communities they serve, but they are responsible for electric delivery.

“I like to use the analogy that we’re the UPS of electricity,” Hill said. “We don’t care who you buy it from. We’ll deliver it.”

The company asked Tyler to approve a 17.6 percent increase in residential rates, a 9.1 percent increase in commercial rates and a 5.8 percent increase in street lighting rates. According to Hill, annual rates would increase by $60 for an average residential customer.

The city’s resolution requires Oncor to delay putting the rate increases into effect — now scheduled for Aug. 8 — until Tyler and other affected cities can more closely review the increase proposal.

The council also approved a $2 fee for Tyler Solid Waste customers who do not use wheeled carts for residential garbage collection. The fee would go into effect on Jan. 1, 2009, allowing time for customers to get wheeled carts if they choose.

Director of Solid Waste Dan Brotton said the fee is meant to enhance safety of garbage collectors. The wheeled carts are designed for automated collection by the trucks, but Brotton said the potential for injuries goes up when a garbage collector has to pick up bags of trash by hand and throw them into the trucks.

The $2 fee will not apply to Packout or Driveout customers.

Solid Waste customers can also expect to see a fuel recovery fee on their bills as early as Aug. 1. City Council members approved the flexible fee as a way to offset the cost of diesel for the automated garbage trucks.

“These increases are tough to absorb, but we’re not out to make a profit,” Brotton said.

He said that, during the past year, oil prices have continued to increase and Tyler Solid Waste has absorbed those increases. The Fiscal Year 2008–09 Solid Waste budget has set aside $621,800 for fuel, with the cost of diesel predicted to reach $4.50 per gallon. That’s up more than $200,000 over this year’s budget, which set aside $489,763 for fuel. In Fiscal Year 2006–07, the Solid Waste Department spent only $241,169 for fuel.

The fuel recovery fee will be a revolving charge, based on the escalating cost of fuel and associated items, such as lubricants and solvents. The fee begins at $2.77 per gallon and would be adjusted every month to stay in line with future changes to the cost of fuel, using the actual price paid for diesel. The fee is based upon adding half a percent for every cent that the average price of diesel rises above $2.77 per gallon.

So, if fuel reaches $4.50 per gallon for diesel, the fuel recovery fee would be 8.65 percent of the total bill. On a residential garbage bill of $11.97, the fuel recovery fee would be $1.04.

Brotton said the Solid Waste Department will determine the average price per gallon of diesel at the beginning of the first billing cycle of each month, starting Aug. 1.

In other business, the council on Wednesday approved unanimously the following items: