Cookeville Considering Utility Rate Adjustments

Cookeville city officials are considering potential utility rate adjustments impacting water, sewer, and natural gas customers.

Water and Sewer Department Director Ronnie Kelly said the adjustments would help fund future projects.

“We’re looking at water and sewer rate structures and how we’re going to be able to fund some big capital projects over the next five years,” Kelly said. “So we had got the rate consultants to come in and review and look at how we’re going to raise that revenue, because we do have quite a few capital projects that’s going to have to be built over the next few years.”

Utility consultants presented their findings to Cookeville City Council members and other officials during a meeting at the city gas department Wednesday.

Rate adjustments would include a slight water rate increase from year to year through the 2023 fiscal year. The average resident who uses nearly 5,000 gallons of water per month would see their monthly bill increase slightly each year by $1.14 or more. Current estimates show water bills for said users would be just over $29 on average.

Kelly said several of the capital projects will be much needed for the city and warrant slight rate increases.

“We’ve got some projects over at the waste water plant, we’ve got projects over at the water plant that’s coming,” Kelly said. “We also have infrastructure in the middle of town and lines rebuilding. If you drive around town, you see a lot of the construction going on. A lot of those are our pipes, and so a lot of that has to be rebuilt. Those are the biggest drivers.”

Average sewer bills would also increase under the proposed changes by roughly $12 per month to just under $41. However, those rates would level off beginning with the 2021 fiscal year.

The Cookeville Gas Department could also see some changes to summer and winter rates to be considered what city officials called “revenue neutral”.

Gas Department Director Jeff Mills said the rates would be adjusted to accommodate for increased usage in winter months.

“We’re just looking at trying to restructure the rates on it to recover some of the fixed costs we have on it throughout the year,” Mills said. “We’re not looking for any increase whatsoever on the rates, just a way to restructure and recover what costs we do occur through the year, instead of waiting on the volatility of the winter months and the temperatures we have to depend on now.”

Mills said rates could both increase and decrease for gas customers depending on the time of the year.

“The customer charge will go up slightly if this goes through but the cost for the gas will come down to offset that so bills should remain relatively constant,” Mills said.

Gas rates would decrease nearly $3 over the course of the winter, but will increase just under $2 during summer months. City officials noted in the meeting warmer winter seasons have hurt the city financially under current natural gas rates.

Although the gas department has no major projects on the horizon, Mills said the additional revenue proposed from the adjustments will help alleviate costs of smaller projects.

“We don’t have any large projects coming up right now but we do have some small areas that we are trying to expand into,” Mills said. “We try to do all that in house with our own construction crews to hold cost down a little bit.”

The rates have not gone into effect as city officials and Council members will consider the information provided during today’s meeting. City officials noted a decision over potential rate adjustments could occur as early as this spring or summer.