Cleco, DEMCO, Entergy, SLEMCO… whoever you pay for your electricity, chances are you’re paying more than you did a year ago at this time.
October 2021 energy billing is up an average of $11.67 across the state over October 2020’s charges, according to the Public Service Commission, the body that regulates the private companies that power Louisiana.
That’s a 12% average increase statewide, aside from a few municipal government-regulated sectors, of which the city of New Orleans would be one.
There’s not one central reason for the statewide increase across multiple companies – costs from last year’s Hurricanes Laura, Delta and Zeta are still at least a year away from being passed onto the consumers, and Hurricane Ida’s damage costs are even further out from making an impact.
However, among the hodgepodge of issues facing power producers – the use of an additional power plant by Cleco, unexpected financial challenges from a surprise ice storm, hotter heat waves baking Louisianians over the summer – one common denominator is the rise of fuel costs.
Power plants need fuel for their generators to create electricity for consumers, and even without increasing their profit margin, utilities have had to adjust their charges to accommodate the higher cost of fuel recently.
Entergy Louisiana, for example, is billing $10.90 more this month for “fuel adjustment” than they did a year ago.
“The recent increases in utility costs across the country, including Louisiana, are largely driven by rising natural gas prices,” Brandon Scardigli, a spokesman for Entergy’s regulatory team, told NOLA.com. “Some of these items are driven directly by the consumer, such as the amount of power used, but others are driven directly by market values, such as the price of natural gas.”
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