ROSEVILLE, Calif. — Roseville Electric Utility is proposing an 8% energy surcharge in addition to an already-approved 3% increase starting in January. Roseville City Council is set to vote on the proposal Wednesday.
The 8% charge would be in effect from Feb. 1, 2023, through Dec. 31, 2024. If approved, customers could see an 11% increase in 2023.
Erin Frye, a spokesperson for Roseville Electric Utility, said they have seen a rapid increase in energy market prices over the last 12 to 18 months and as a result of those spikes, have proposed a temporary energy surcharge.
"For a residential customer, to give you an idea, that's roughly $15 a month for an average utility bill, and then that obviously increases across our customer classes depending on what type of usage they have," Frye said.
According to Roseville Electric Utility, there was no rate increase from 2015-2021, but starting in 2022 there was a 3% increase that will also happen in 2023.
Electric Rate Assistance Program
Frye said they offer a program that offsets 15% of the monthly electric service on their utility bill, which is called the Electric Rate Assistance program.
"We're also taking to council a proposal to offset the surcharge increase for those customers enrolled in our electric rate assistance program. Because we know that those customers are obviously impacted the most, so we look to offset that in 2023 for those income-qualified customers," Frye said.
That offset would come from the public benefit funds, according to Frye.
For more answers to FAQs, see Roseville Electric's surcharge fact sheet.
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