CSU customers to face extra fee

March 05--Attention College Station Utilities customers: The extra $5 fee on your March utility bill is not a mistake.

And you can expect to see it again in April, May, June, November and December -- the lower usage months of the year.

David Massey, director of electric utilities for CSU, said the fee is being added to offset costs endured on Feb. 2, when Electric Reliability Council of Texas mandated utility companies impose temporary blackouts.

The decision was made after several power plants connected to the state's transmission grid went offline in the face of extreme cold weather. Officials said most communities experienced 15- to 45-minute power outages from just before 6 a.m. to about 1 p.m.

Had the rolling blackouts not been implemented, the entire state could have experienced a total blackout.

As a result of the power supply being limited that day, ERCOT increased market costs to the maximum allowed for six hours, and prices continued to be high for the next two days, Massey said.

"College Station Utilities shares the frustration many of our customers experienced during this emergency event," he said in a statement announcing the $5 fee. "Unfortunately, it had extreme financial consequences as we were forced to purchase power that was at least 50 times the normal market price."

The day the rolling blackouts occurred, Massey said, CSU spent as much on power in a seven-hour period as it normally does in 15 to 20 days.

And at it's peak, the demand for electricity was nearly 20 percent higher than any past winter peak, he said.

"College Station Utilities is profoundly grateful to our loyal customers and we sincerely appreciate their patience and understanding as we recover from this emergency situation," Massey said in the statement. "We understand that the extra $5 per month is a significant amount during tough economic times, and assure our customers this action is not being taken lightly."

Bryan Texas Utilities doesn't plan on adjusting customer bills because of the rolling blackouts, said Bob Wheeler, the spokesman for the company.

-----

To see more of The Eagle or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.theeagle.com/.

Copyright (c) 2011, The Eagle, Bryan, Texas

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com.

NYSE:MEE,

A service of YellowBrix, Inc.