Oglesby Electric Bills Shooting Up

If you live in Oglesby, better hope you don’t have to run the air conditioning much this summer.

As of June 1^st, a temporary one cent per kilowatt surcharge is being added to electric bills.  Electric Commissioner Dom Rivara says this will add about 7 to 10 dollars onto monthly electric bills.  In total, he thinks the surcharge will generate almost 16 thousand dollars per month.  The extra fee will end December 31^st or whenever an electric rate study gives the council an exact amount to raise rates.

Rivara says losing Buzzi Unicem as a major electric bill payer has made it hard to pay bills.  In 2007, Buzzi paid 3.6 million to the city for electricity.  Last year they paid 377 thousand dollars.