Cleveland Public Power is proposing to raise monthly electric bills by about $10 over the next two years for residential customers.Leaders of the city-owned electric utility presented the rate hike plan to Cleveland City Council on Thursday. They said CPP needed the money to meet its annual debt payments and to build up a bigger cash reserve for daily costs. Council has yet to sign off on the increase. CPP Commissioner Ammon Danielson described himself as torn between desires to keep costs low for ratepayers and to invest in the electrical system.“I would love to not have to take any pennies from my customers,” he told council. “I would also like to be able to spend more money at any given time serving our customers. So that’s the challenge.” If council approves the rates, the average CPP residential customer’s summertime monthly bill would rise from $80.72 today to $90.52 in 2026, officials said. This would be the first increase in the rate since the 1980s, council members said. The legislation would also raise commercial rates.Darrell Houston, a Bedford resident who owns a car wash in Cleveland, delivered a public comment contesting the increase. He sees utility poles in bad shape around town while other costs are rising for customers, he said. “The utilities are going up, water’s going up, property taxes are going up, they’re talking about gas going up, and here you come asking for a higher rate – based on what?” Houston said. “Because I would probably give you guys an F-plus based on what I can physically see.” Cleveland Public Power’s aging infrastructure has posed a challenge for years. A 2019 report called the utility’s situation “not sustainable,” with high power costs and a system in “poor” condition. The study, prepared during former Mayor Frank Jackson’s administration, recommended rate increases.The CPP rate in question, known as a kilowatt-hour charge, is just one part of customers’ electric bills. The total bill also includes a state tax and what’s been called the “energy adjustment charge,” which officials said covers CPP’s cost to buy power. Proposed average electric bills for Cleveland Public Power’s residential customers in the summer. Credit: City of ClevelandMore money for Cleveland Public Power infrastructure, day-to-day costsEven this proposed rate increase would not generate enough money to meet CPP’s infrastructure needs, Utilities Director Martin Keane said. An assessment of the system’s facilities recommended spending $18 million to $20 million a year on upgrades, according to Keane. The rate hike would enable CPP to budget $9.8 million for infrastructure spending by 2026, up from $5.2 million this year. Proposed average electric bills for Cleveland Public Power’s residential customers in the winter. Credit: City of ClevelandThe power system also needs to increase the amount of cash it keeps on hand, said Catherine Troy, the chief financial officer for the city’s utilities department. A healthy utility should have enough cash available to pay for 150 days of operations – or $80 million in CPP’s case, she said. Currently, CPP keeps only $70 million on hand. Although council didn’t vote on the rate increase Thursday, Utilities Committee Chair Brian Kazy urged his colleagues to back it. In a phone call after the hearing, Kazy drew a contrast between CPP and its competitor, Akron-based First Energy. The Ward 16 council member pointed out the for-profit utility’s $107 million naming rights deal for Browns Stadium and its multimillion-dollar payments to settle state and federal investigations into the $60 million Ohio Statehouse bribery case. Kazy, who lives on the West Side outside CPP’s service area, is a First Energy customer but a Cleveland Public Power advocate.“CPP is locally owned and locally operated and keeps Clevelanders employed,” he said.The post Cleveland Public Power proposes $10 increase to average monthly electric bill appeared first on Signal Cleveland.