Cape Coral seeing higher electric bills due to ‘power cost adjustment,’ natural gas increases - 96.9 WINK FM
                                               
      
                                
Uncategorized

Cape Coral seeing higher electric bills due to ‘power cost adjustment,’ natural gas increases

CAPE CORAL

Have you noticed that you are paying much more for your LCEC power bill? It may be due to a ‘power cost adjustment.’

Some people are paying as much as ten times what they normally would, which is hard for many, especially those still dealing with the cost of Hurricane Ian.

The cost of natural gas isn’t helping reduce power bills either. It has gone up and up over the last few months, and it’s unclear when it will come down.

Cape Coral has changed significantly in the last year, and not necessarily for the better. Hurricane Ian left behind widespread damage, and people have seen their electric bills continue to increase.

“More than $300 a month,” said Jim O’Brien, who said before it was “about $200.”

O’Brien is sick of it. He has to deal with the rise in his electric bill on top of paying to repair the damage to his home.

“Cape Coral is getting too expensive to live in. Period,” said O’Brien.

A bill from an LCEC customer from December 2021 shows they paid $145, with just $8 for the power cost adjustment. This December is a different story. That bill is $337, paying $110 for that power cost adjustment.

The main cause is natural gas prices, and LCEC says it is unclear when those will start to decline.

“I wish we had a crystal ball and we knew when natural gas prices are going to drop, but I can say that once they do start dropping consistently, those decreases will also be passed along to the customer. We were hoping it would be a lot sooner than this, but it just hasn’t happened this year with the natural gas prices,” said Karen Ryan, an LCEC spokesperson.

Mike Sexton hopes that happens sooner rather than later.

“More money in the pocket. That’s a main goal for everyone, I would say, especially in this type of environment with the hurricane,” said Sexton.

LCEC said it would know if those bills will go up once they get the bill from their power supplier. That also plays a part in that power cost adjustment price.

WINK NEWS 

Generated by Feedzy