Longmont’s electric and water rates are increasing in January.
The 2021 municipal water and electric charges are the second year of rate hikes in a multiple-year rate hikes schedule City Council members approved in a unanimous December 2019 vote.
Electric rates are being increased 5.4% overall, according to an email from Longmont Power and Communications public relations and marketing specialist Scott Rochat.
On the electric rates, “a typical home, using 700 kilowatt-hours per month, would see its average electric bill go from $68.36 a month in 2020 to $72.03/month in 2021,” Rochat said. “That’s a $3.67/month increase for a typical user.”
The city’s 2021 water rate is increasing 9%. For the average residential user, that will translate to an additional $3.80 per month for the same usage as in 2020, Becky Doyle, rate analyst manager for the Department of Pubic Works and Natural Resources, said in an email.
Average residential water bills will increase from $42.21 in 2020 to $46.01 in 2021, Doyle said.
The new rates taking effect Friday will appear on customers’ February billing statements, officials have said.
Longmont’s revised electric and water rates “remain comparable to other Front Range communities,” officials state in the January 2021 City Line newsletter mailed to all households in the city..
“You will see the rate changes reflected in your February bill for January usage and in the seasonal electric rate this summer,” the City Line rate increase reminder says..
City staff said the new electric rates will help pay for wholesale energy costs and an upgrade of city electric meters to an advanced metering infrastructure to give customers information on their electrical use.
The increased water rates will go toward expanding water treatment capacity to replace a retiring auxiliary treatment plant, as well as replacing aging water lines and infrastructure.
Staff said other benefits of the rate adjustments include replacement of the customer information system used for utility billing, along with needed maintenance, operating and improvements costs.
Rochat said during the COVID-19 pandemic, “we did see higher electric usage in Longmont. Between March — when COVID-19 started to have an impact here — and November, the community’s total kilowatt-hour usage was up by 2.5% over the year before.
“For residential customers, it was more pronounced — electric kWh usage in that period went up by 8.9% over the same time period in 2019. This was a time that saw people increasingly working from home, taking remote classes, etc. Prior to COVID, it wouldn’t be uncommon for a home to sit empty for a few hours a day while everyone was at work or school; during the pandemic, homes were occupied more consistently and more activities took place there, which helped drive the electrical usage upward.”
Rochat said that in 2020 water usage stayed about the same for Longmont’s businesses, but went up for both single-family homes and for irrigation.
“Some of this could be due to people staying home more during the pandemic, but water use is also strongly weather-dependent, and we had a hot, dry summer this year where there was likely a lot of lawn watering,” he wrote.
Information about Longmont utility rates
Longmont Utility Rate Changes web page: tinyurl.com/stzsymo
Residential electric rates: tinyurl.com/y8hnt7ommsv
Commercial electric rates: tinyurl.com/ydgt2hrg
Water rates: tinyurl.com/y84sp4vc
Longmont utility rate rebates and savings programs: LongmontColorado.gov/RateChanges
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Longmont electric, water utility rate increases take effect in January - Longmont Times-Call
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