LOCAL POWER RATES TO FALL AGAIN IN SEPTEMBER

ATHENS, Tenn. – With next month being September, Athens Utilities Board has one more month in its “summer” seasonal period that began in June.  And as the season moves toward a close next month, power rates will again fall slightly.

“That’s good news for our customers,” said AUB’s Wayne Scarbrough.

“With highs in the 90s in the past month, pushing cooling units to keep up, it has been good to see power rates get below nine cents per kilowatt hour.  Temperatures are moderating somewhat, with highs looking to be in the mid to high 80s, so it is great to see the power rate also moderating and moving somewhat lower,” he said.

The AUB residential power rate for September will be $0.08794 per kilowatt hour compared to August’s rate of $0.08944.

Last month, July, was the first time since January of this year that the rate exceeded nine cents for a kilowatt hour of power.  Since then, rates have pulled back below that nine cent level.

September is the fourth and final “summer rate” month in TVA’s rate scheme.  After that come two months of “transition period” rates in October and November, which should be even better because the base rate falls.

“We are glad to see this lower trend continue for our customers during this tough economic time,” Scarbrough said.

AUB reminds all customers that while it continues to offer power, water, natural gas, and wastewater services to everyone in the area, its lobby at AUB’s main office remains closed to the public.

“We still are being very careful and plan to continue.  You should see a mask on any AUB employee if they are even remotely around another person.  We urge everyone in the area to do the same for their neighbors,” Scarbrough said.

About 83 cents of every dollar that AUB’s power division collects go to TVA for wholesale power.