SMUD holding workshops to teach customers how to save money amid planned rate hikes
NORTH HIGHLANDS – It's a common complaint that people's power bills keep going up and SMUD is already in the middle of four planned rate hikes.
North Highlands community members met Thursday night with SMUD officials to talk about ways to save money. The outreach effort comes just a few months before another rate hike is about to take effect.
"Sometimes it's tough to pay," Sharon Alexander said.
That's why Alexander and others are attending a series of SMUD Community Workshops, teaching people how to save money on their monthly bills.
"SMUD is doing everything we can to incentivize people to save energy," SMUD Board Director Heidi Sanborn said.
Sanborn said the utility has rebates for people to purchase energy-efficient appliances and an assistance program that offers low-income individuals a reduced monthly rate.
She and other SMUD workers have even gone door to door in disadvantaged neighborhoods, trying to educate customers about the programs.
This educational push comes at a time when rates are about to rise again.
SMUD has approved an 11% increase over a two-year period with the next one taking effect in January.
They say it adds up to just over 15 extra dollars a month on the average residential power bill.
"We're doing everything we can to save money internally to keep our costs down, but there is a cost of living increase," Sanborn said.
Some of that extra money will pay for modernizing SMUD's older power plants, like converting a natural gas-fired generator at McClellan Park into a clean energy storage unit powered by battery banks.
Even with four rate hikes, SMUD says it still provides power much cheaper than PG&E.
"We are now 54% below our neighboring utility rates," Sanborn said.
And customers like Alexander are now signing up for these assistance programs save even more.
"I'm looking forward to seeing the prices going down," Alexander said.
The next community outreach event will be held on Saturday, Oct. 5 beginning at 10 a.m. at the SMUD Customer Service Center in Sacramento.