POWER PLAY

Springfi eld’s municipal utility may have found a way out of the fi nancial hole its electricity division has been stuck in for years. Springfi eld mayor Jim Langfelder and City Water, Light and Power chief engineer Doug Brown announced this week a plan to restructure the utility’s electricity rates, with an aim of smoothing out the peaks and valleys of selling power. The plan involves raising the customer charge slightly while also lowering the per-unit energy charge, which Brown says would bring CWLP more in line with how other utilities operate. For CWLP, that has the effect of building in a stable base of funding that is less reliant on strong energy demand. That means CWLP is positioned for a better bond rating, which would mean a better interest rate when borrowing money, possibly saving millions of dollars. Coupled with cost-cutting measures like lower-cost coal and getting a better deal on wind energy contracts that expire in 2017 and 2018, CWLP may see stability return to the fi nances of the electricity division. Langfelder says many customers will actually see their power bills decrease, and large commercial customers will see the largest decrease, which could be a boon when attracting new businesses to Springfi eld. According to Langfelder, the rate restructuring doesn’t raise the amount of revenue CWLP’s electricity division brings in; it simply smooths the revenue out over the year. To see how the plan will affect your bill, check out http:// billcalculator.cwlp.com.”