Mediation fails to settle El Paso Electric's $41.8M rate increase request

Vic Kolenc, El Paso Times
·2 min read

Mediation has failed to settle El Paso Electric's $41.8 million rate increase request — sending the case back to a state hearing for resolution.

A Feb. 24 virtual mediation session with representatives of the city of El Paso and others opposed to the proposed rate increase and company representatives failed to bring a settlement, state mediators recently reported in a filing with the Texas Public Utility Commission.

That sends the case back to the State Office of Administrative Hearings for resumption of a hearing. The hearing was suspended in January after four days of testimony to allow El Paso Electric and rate increase opponents to continue settlement negotiations.

Under the utility's proposal, El Paso residential customers would see a 13.4% increase, or an average bill increase of $11.76 per month.
Under the utility's proposal, El Paso residential customers would see a 13.4% increase, or an average bill increase of $11.76 per month.

The utility, the city, and other intervenors in the rate case reached a partial settlement in January on how much revenue EPE could get in the rate case. No dollar amount was reported.

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Settlement negotiations have been ongoing for months. EPE rate cases over the past 27 years were settled outside of state hearings, city officials have reported.

The PUC staff in a March 7 filing asked the Office of Administrative Hearings to start the process to set dates to finish the hearing.

The staff was opposed to the mediation because it didn’t foresee mediation settling the case, and it would bring additional legal costs to ratepayers, according to a February filing.

However, the staff, in its latest filing, said establishing new hearing dates doesn’t mean both sides can’t continue settlement negotiations.

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If no settlement is reached, and the rate hearing is completed, a state administrative law judge would make a recommendation on the case and send that to the PUC, which makes the final decision. It also must approve a settlement.

EPE in June filed a rate increase request for the El Paso area with the PUC, asking for $41.8 million in rate increases, or an overall increase of 7.8%.

El Paso residential customers would see a much larger 13.4% increase, or an average bill increase of $11.76 per month, under the proposal – something opposed by city officials.

Vic Kolenc may be reached at 546-6421; vkolenc@elpasotimes.com; @vickolenc on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Mediation doesn't settle El Paso Electric $41.8M rate hike request