THATCHER — Thatcher residents should expect to see a slight drop in electricity costs over the coming months.
During Monday’s meeting, the Thatcher Town Council voted unanimously to lower the power price cost adjuster from $0.045 per kilowatt hour to $0.03/kWh, a 33 percent drop.
That will drop the total costs to electric users to 11.6 cents/kWh.
While he supported the drop, Councilman Heston Welker cautioned against dropping the PPCA too much, due to uncertainty in the market as well as needs of the town.
“It’s not like our rates are artificially high or anything. We are among, if not the lowest in Arizona,” Welker said, “and we’ve got a lot of infrastructure stuff we can take care of.”
The town has committed to replacement of the Reay Lane electrical substation, which is estimated to cost about $3 million. The town has also been moving utilities underground — including making upgrades where necessary — during some roadway capital improvement projects.
Due to massive spikes in natural gas costs during the winter of 2021-22, the town raised the PPCA from $0.01 to $0.02 in June 2022, and raised it again in February 2023 to $0.045. However, since that time, the town has also been hedging gas prices — locking in to a set price months in advance, regardless of whether gas prices are increasing or decreasing.
That price stability, combined with low gas prices, has allowed the town to rebuild the electric reserves to about $1.6 million.
