Current | LES Customer Newsletter Current - October 2018

CURRENT
LES' CUSTOMER NEWSLETTER
X68173
1040 O Street, P.O. Box 80869
Lincoln, NE 68501
8 a.m.–5 p.m., Monday–Friday
Customer Service: 402.475.4211
Power Outage: 888.365.2412 - Toll Free
Nebraska811 (Call before you dig): 811 - Toll Free
OCTOBER 2018
LES PROPOSES NO RATE INCREASE FOR 2019
While restructuring continues, rates aren’t going up for the second year in a row.
Lincoln Electric System staff and its board’s Budget & Rates Committee recommended no increase to retail electric
rates in its 2019 budget and rates proposal during the LES Administrative Board meeting Sept. 21.
The proposed 2019 budget totals $348 million, allotting $272 million for operating costs and dedicating the remaining
$76 million for capital projects. This is $14.5 million less in capital projects and $1.4 million less in operating costs
than 2018.
With no system-wide average rate adjustment, demand-metered customers won’t see changes to their monthly
bills. The only changes Residential, General Service and Heating Service customers will notice comes in the form of
ongoing, revenue-neutral rate restructuring. In 2019, customers will have a decrease in energy rates (identified as the
Energy Charge on account statements) offset by an increase in the Facilities Charge, which collects fixed costs for
LES to maintain and deliver energy.
Most customers will notice little to no change to their bill.
0%
RATE INCREASE
4%
2019
budget
by the
numbers
LOWER THAN
2018 BUDGET
“We are happy, for the second year in a row, to not need
an increase in electric rates,” said Vice President and
CFO Laura Kapustka. “Instead, we’re focusing on
restructuring rates to better account for the
fixed costs of getting electricity to homes and
businesses while keeping LES among the
nation’s leaders in reliable service.”
Electric rates in Lincoln rank among the
most affordable in the nation. LES surveyed
the rates of 100 electric utilities in different
cities across the country in its 2018 National
Electric Rate Study and determined that
LES’ average rates are the eighth lowest.
LOWER CAPITAL
Residential customers using 1,000
PROJECTS BUDGET
kilowatt-hours per month pay an average
of $96.42 on their monthly LES bill, which
is 31 percent less than the study average of
$139.98. Meanwhile, industrial customers using
1,000 kW and 400,000 kWh pay $31,080 on their
RESERVED FOR 2019
monthly
LES bill, which is 23 percent less than the study
SUSTAINABLE
average of $40,614.
16%
$1.5M
ENERGY PROGRAM
Learn more about the proposed budget at LES.com.