EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – El Pasoans turned to their air conditioning units to stay cool as temperatures rose over the last few weeks.

And electric bills are also on the rise, prompting shock among homeowners and renters.

Shoppers making their way to grocery stores noted the higher costs on El Paso Electric bills during the latest cycle. They pointed out the higher costs have made them reconsider what they can purchase whether it be for food, fun or back-to-school supplies for the children in their lives.

Manuela Gomez said she saw a $120 increase on her latest bill. She said she has not changed her electricity use at home, and like other El Pasoans she is concerned about what the surge in cost means.

“Everybody’s roasting, so, it’s not like we can turn off the AC right now,” she said. “I mean, $120 is a lot of money. So, that money is not going to go to my niece and nephew and their school supplies.”

More expensive electricity bills were anticipated after the Texas Public Utility Commission approved El Paso Electric’s rate hike earlier this year. Under the new rate, and on average, electric bills were expected to rise $13.71 per month.

KTSM has reached out to El Paso Electric for comment.

On electric bills, users are paying various fees and charges including: summer energy charges; fuel charges; energy efficiency recovery; generation cost; advanced metering system surcharges; a surcharge to recover costs during the Coronavirus pandemic; fees to retire older power plants; a military base discount recovery factor; and a rate case expense surcharge.

Laura Dominguez, who was also grocery shopping Friday, said her bill has risen $150.

“Salaries aren’t going up and everything is going up,” she said. “We go grocery shopping and it’s a lot of money. It’s affecting us quite a bit.”

City officials say they’ve heard the cry of El Paso residents. On Monday, July 20, the City Council will consider a proposal to take more steps to protect ratepayers.

Karla Nieman, the city attorney, said utilities in the region, including El Paso Electric, have increased the number of times they can go to ratepayers to raise revenue. Those requests can be for infrastructure investments.

In response, the City plans on having more resources to challenge those requests at the state level to protect El Pasoans from higher costs.

“We’ve saved approximately $85 million to our ratepayers,” Nieman said of the challenges against increases. “So, while we understand the sticker shock, the sticker shock could have been worse, had we not intervened.”

During the last rate case, the City challenged El Paso Electric’s proposal, cutting a proposed increase of $22.39, on average, per month to $13.71. And, it’s not the only time the City has challenged a rate case or other requests from utilities.

“Just this year alone, we’re in the month of July and they’ve already filed 14 cases, two in the last two weeks,” Nieman said. “And, it becomes very difficult to keep up with the posting agendas and then being able to get on an agenda with sufficient time to make the deadline for intervention.”

That is where the City Council’s vote on Monday will come in. If approved, the City’s proposal will allow the City Attorney’s Office to allocate resources and respond faster in intervention cases.

It is something that City Rep. Josh Acevedo said needs to be addressed. He said the City will need an aggressive approach to keep up with the utility’s filings.

“This economy is really taking a toll on a lot of different people. We also have to look at what happened in the last year,” he said. “There was a trifecta of utility rate increases from gas, water and electricity. And, that is really hard on our ratepayers, on my constituents. And, so the fight needs to continue.”

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