Electric bills in many eastern North Carolina towns are skyrocketing, as reported here. A Carolina Journal op-ed explained the problem last April. Now a legislative committee will be looking at how to get this under control and offer rate payers some relief.
The Joint Municipal Power Agency Relief Committee will hold it’s first meeting tomorrow, October 25 from 9:30 to 12:30 in Room 643 of the Legislative Office Building. They are charged with studying potential options to provide relief to customers of the joint municipal power agencies from high electric rates, specifically refinancing or restructuring the debt of the power agencies and selling assets of the municipalities or the power agencies to lower electric rates or the total amount of debt.
The Joint Municipal Power Agency Relief Committee members are:
Co Chairs: Rep Jeff Collins and Sen. Buck Newton
Members: Rep. Bill Brawley, Rep. Bill Owens, Rep. Jimmy Dixon, Rep. Skip Stam, Sen. Andrew Brock, Sen. Bob Rucho, Rep. Wesley Meredith, Rep. Ralph Hise and Rep. Stan White.
The meeting is open to the public or you can listen in here.
It’s clear that in order for communities to be competitive in recruiting and keeping businesses, electricity rates have to be reasonable and affordable. It’s time for the legislature to address this problem.
