Carteret-Craven announces electric rate increase

Citing rising fuel prices, Carteret-Craven Electric Cooperative has announced a wholesale power rate increase, according to a release.

Beginning with bills mailed out in July, the new rate will be $8.75 per 1,000 kilowatt hour compared to the old rate of $2.50 per hour. This amount is on top of the cooperative's base rate. The wholesale rate is based on current market energy costs.

"Recently, our power supplier, N.C. Electric Membership Corporation, announced it would need to collect additional money to pay for unforeseen costs to purchase power," Craig Conrad, the cooperative's CEO and general manager, said in a statement. "As a result, the cooperative's costs will increase proportionately, and we must ask that all our members share in these costs to help protect the integrity and financial stability of the organization."

The new rate will mean a typical consumer will pay an average increase of about $9 per month.

The cooperative provides electricity to 38,000 customers in Craven, Carteret, Onslow and Jones counties and parts of Havelock.

Conrad cited worldwide demand for energy as one reason for rising costs.

"We had hoped that the extreme pricing volatility would be short lived, but it continues without any predictable stability in sight," he said in a statement.

According to the release, the price of coal used in North Carolina's coal-fired power plants has nearly doubled since January.

The cooperative is cutting its costs also, according to the release, reducing miles driven by company vehicles by six percent in an effort to offset high gas prices.