At a Gainesville Regional Utilities Authority meeting earlier this month, leaders said rising fuel costs and how they’re handling them will impact what customers pay.
GRU’s CEO Ed Bielarski said there are a couple of reasons for the increase.
First, natural gas prices spiked from December through February and then one of GRU’s power plants went offline for repairs.
That’s creating a $12 million gap the utility says it now has to recover.
GRU bills include a base rate and a fuel charge, and the fuel charge is what’s going up.
Belarski said it’ll go up $10 to $15 in just a few months for many utility customers.
“This isn’t a GRU thing. This is an industry thing," he said. "It’s peculiar to Florida at this point in time, given the circumstances.”
He says GRU customers will likely see this increased charge over the next year.