Electric customers of the Laurens Commission of Public Works can expect higher charges on one portion of their bills this month. CPW General Manager John Young reminded commissioners yesterday that the Purchased Power Adjustment Clause is used to collect the difference between what the estimated costs of electricity would be when the electric rate was established for the year with the actual cost of the electricity sold. Based on this, Young said the CPW under collected $103,000 from customers for the month of August. In comparison $21,000 was under collected in July and $8,000 was under collected in June. So a typical customer who uses 1,000 KWH of electricity will be billed $13.70 for the Purchased Power Adjustment this month as compared to $3.05 last month and only $1.84 for June. Young noted this is primarily due to a much milder August as compared to the last three years.
John Young also explained a big power outage in Laurens back on September 27th, noting that a Blue Heron make an unfortunate contact that caused a power outage for about 700 customers on the Church Street Circuit for about an hour.
He also reported the CPW Electric Department has completed infrared scanning of transformers and substations and made repairs as needed, with many blown lightning arrestors being repaired. He explained that if lightning strikes an arrestor it needs to immediately be replaced to avoid power outages if there is another strike, the lighting arrestor inspections are still ongoing with four out of five completed.