WhitehouseTexas.com

Think your electric bill is high?

Whitehouse ISD is covered by two electricity service providers. SESCO is prohibited by regulations from covering the high school, but the company covers the rest of the district. Its rate includes a delivery charge that all providers charge. It typically ranges between two and three cents per kwh. The high school is covered by Utility Choice under a contract it received last year, but which expires this month. Its rate of 6.25 cents per kilowatt hour does not include the deliver y charge, but in the light of Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita, is still very good since natural gas prices have shot way up. The price of natural gas is the main mover of the cost of electricity.

Faced with both of its contracts ending, the school board took action Monday night which will increase its electric bill at the high school by an amount that could possibly be as much as $30,000 more than it paid last year�just for the period of Januar y through April. It is also facing increases as yet announced of anywhere from 50 to 80 percent from SESCO for the rest of the district�s campuses. Those rates, however, are expected to end up somewhere in the middle of that range, keeping them lower than the high school�s rate.

For that reason, despite the unexpected increase in electricity costs which were only partially anticipated in the current school budget, the school board is expected to continue its SESCO contract when it is time to renew. The high school campus was a different matter, however. The district sought request for proposals (RFPs) from electricity service providers for the high school. The cheapest rates, not including the 2-3 cent delivery charge, ranged from 10.9 cents per kwh for a one year contract to 9.9 cents per kwh for a three year contract. Those rates were termed high by the district�s consultant Bill Carter.

An alternative was going with an aggregate provider� Energy for Schools, which represents 145 school districts and some community colleges. The school board, on the advice of Carter, gambled on the price of natural gas going down by the end of that period by signing up for the short four months with Energy for Schools. The rate for the four months will be 10.4 cents per kwh. Because spring season brings milder weather and less demand for natural gas, Carter said the odds were with the district that costs would come down.

At the end of April, if the price of natural gas has indeed gone down, then the electric rate should also be down and a new contract with Energy for Schools, or a new round of request for proposals (RFP) from other electric service providers, will give the district some relief.

Assistant Superintendent Daniel DuPre told the board that a full year�s contract for the high school at the lowest rate quoted via the RFPs at this time would increase energy costs at that campus by 75 percent over last year�or possibly as much as $95,000 to $100,000.

Where will the school district get the money to pay for higher than budgeted energy costs? Part of the increase was budgeted. Part will come from increased state money received for new students. Part will come from conservation ef forts. Part will come from redirecting some budget items�doing without or postponing some items. And if all of these things still fall short, the district�s fund balance will likely be the target to make up the difference.