ANAHEIM : Industry May Get Cheaper Electricity

About 500 small and medium-size manufacturers would have their electricity bills reduced by an average of $200 a month under a proposal by the city’s Public Utility Department.

The 1.3% decrease would bring the city-owned utility’s manufacturing rates within about 2% of what Southern California Edison charges its industrial customers in other cities, city officials said. Anaheim is the only city in Orange County with its own electrical system.

The decrease, which is scheduled to be considered by the City Council and Public Utility Board next month and would take affect Sept. 1, would partially offset a 2% increase that all Anaheim electric customers are scheduled to receive on Jan. 1 to help pay for putting the city’s electric lines underground.

The city’s residential electric rate is already 24% lower than Edison charges, and its commercial rate is 14% lower, Anaheim officials said. Also, the city’s 27 largest manufacturers already pay about 4% less than comparable Edison customers, officials said.

Edward K. Aghjayan, Anaheim’s utilities general manager, said the decrease is necessary if the city is going to attract and keep manufacturing plants. The decrease will cost the utility $1.2 million, which it covered by refinancing mortgages on its power plants at lower interest.

“Industrial customers do have a choice where they can locate, so we are in competition with Edison,” Aghjayan said. “We are talking to 65 businesses (about staying in or coming to Anaheim), and the cost of electricity is one cost that they factor in.”

Utility board members praised the proposed decrease.

“Any decrease in the rate for the industrial classification, without putting an additional burden on the shoulders of commercial or residential customers, will be welcome,” said utility board Chairman Bob Kazarian. His board will review the proposal and make a recommendation to the council, which would have to give final approval.