Dec 29 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Gary Gray Bristol Herald Courier, Va.

Some Bristol residents are steamed over electricity bills that are taking an unprecedented bite out of their wallets when the economy is at its worst in decades.

"I live alone, and my bill went from about $113 last month to $251 this month," Donnie Hicks of Bristol, Tenn., said as he sat in his truck Friday after paying his bill at the Bristol Tennessee Essential Services. "I leave the thermostat at 68 degrees, and I'm not home two weekends a month. All I know is that if it's higher next month, I'll go back in there and bellyache."

Bonnie Hyland and her husband, John, have lived in Blountville for about seven years. They said they realize it's winter and temperatures are dropping and that could cause bills to rise. But their December bill is the highest they've ever seen.

"It's just amazing," Bonnie Hyland said Friday at BTES' main office. "Our bill last month was about $100; this month it's $145. We use a wood stove, and we're doing without just to pay these bills."

Her husband said companies such as BTES and Bristol Virginia Utilities are monopolies and there's not much people can do to have a voice in what they pay.

"I'm not thrilled," John Hyland said. "They know they have us tucked in their pocket."

In August, the Tennessee Valley Authority board approved an average 20 percent electric rate increase -- mostly attributed to higher power production costs.

BVU and BTES, which supply about 50,000 customers in the area, buy their energy from TVA, and the authority's rate increase is passed to customers through the "fuel cost adjustment," which is changed quarterly to reflect what TVA pays for coal, natural gas and other sources to produce electricity.

In mid-November, TVA announced it will lower its surcharge for fuel costs effective Jan. 1. That change is expected to mean residential customers will see their bills drop between $4 and $8 a month, according to TVA officials.

But that news hasn't eased the pain of higher electric bills.

The Herald Courier received almost a dozen e-mails and phone calls this week from residents using both utilities. None were amused, and at least one Bristol, Va., resident called for a petition of some kind to help their plight.

"My bill went from $247 last month to $411 this month," said Don Leonard of Bristol, Va. "When I got the bill, I called BVU. I talked to a lady there, and you could tell she'd heard the same question all day. Basically they say it's because of the cold weather."

Leonard said most of his neighbors and friends say their bills have doubled.

"I know these people have to make a buck -- but not all at once," he said.

Linda Laughlin, who lives with her husband in a small two-bedroom home, only uses BVU for electric service. Their most recent bill was $286, an increase over the previous month of $112, she said.

"There was a fuel adjustment cost on my bill of about $42, and I can't understand why?" said Laughlin, who lives with her husband in a rural area of Scott County off Lee Highway. "Somebody's got to stop them [BVU]. People can't live like this."

Brian Bolling, BVU vice president of customer service, said the National Weather Service has told the utility that November was the eighth-coldest on record for the area.

"It's basic math," he said about cold temperatures and higher electric bills. "You want the inside of your house to stay at 70 degrees, so you set the thermostat at 70. But it's 55 outside, and that's a 15-degree difference," Bolling said. "Now, what if it's 30 or 20? Your heating system has to work harder.

Also, people are seeing gas prices going down, but the cost of one of TVA's most-used sources of energy -- coal -- is soaring."

TVA sets a fuel cost that is passed down to utilities to cover what the authority pays to generate energy from coal, hydro-electric, natural gas and other sources.

The fuel cost on BVU bills is 1.891 cents per kilowatt hour.

BVU also charges a per-month residential customer charge of $8.10, which includes a nominal environmental charge. Customers then are charge 8.499 cents per kilowatt hour for the first 1,000 kilowatt hours used, and 9.005 cents for each kilowatt hour above that 1,000. (Those are rates effective in October 2008 for residential customers, and are slight increases from June 2008 based on the summary of rates posting on the BVU Web site.)

To determine kilowatt hours used, the previous meter reading is subtracted from the latest reading. But not all meters are the same. When they are read, the numbers might be used alone to determine kilowatts used but some meters are designed to use "multipliers." In other words, the meter reading will be multiplied by a number, such as 10 or 100, to determine the actual kilowatt hours used. This is what is meant on your bill when you see the word, "multiplier."

Meanwhile, Michael Browder, BTES president, agreed Friday that TVA's rate increase is a factor in higher bills but not the most prominent.

"Weather is the main culprit," he said. "We have had people calling here, and we have looked at some bills which are twice as much as last year at this time.

When you walk out to your mailbox in your shirtsleeves and look at your bill ... I understand why people would be surprised. But you've got to remember, we've had a monthly average [December] of 38 degrees."

BTES' base charges include a $6.42 a month customer charge, for delivering power to the home. Then, the energy charge for the first 1,000 kilowatt hours used includes about 6.544 cents per kilowatt, plus a three-tenths of a cent per kilowatt environmental charge.

TVA's 1.933 cent per kilowatt hour "fuel cost adjustment" is then added, bringing BTES' total charge to about 8.777 cents per kilowatt hour.

"The cost for someone using 1,000 kilowatt hours a month is about $94," Browder said.

When more than 1,000 kilowatt hours a month are used, a different formula kicks in.

Additional kilowatt-hours a month are 7.099 cents. The environmental charge and fuel cost adjustment does not change, but this means the cost for any kilowatt hour over 1,000 is 9.332 cents.

Mathematics aside, the customers who contacted the Herald Courier said they just wanted to be able to make ends meet. That sentiment is noted in an e-mailed snippet from Mary Leonard (no relation to Don Leonard). It was written in all capital letters and replete with exclamation marks regarding BVU charges.

"GOD HELP US ..."

ggray@bristolnews.com| (276) 645-2512

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