Some good news and a little bad news was announced during Wednesday’s City Council meeting in Atlantic, with regard to electric and water usage rates. Atlantic Municipal Utilities (AMU) General Manager Steve Tjekpes, told the Council the good news is that there will be no increase in electric rates for next year. The last increase was 3-percent, in Dec. 2015.

He said also, that a rate survey by the National Public Power Association, shows that out of the 183 electric utilities in Iowa, there are only seven communities with residential rates lower than Atlantic’s 8.6-cents per kilowatt hour. On the Commercial side, only six utilities have a lower rate, and for industrial-size utilities, only four utilities have a lower rate than Atlantic.

On the other side of the coin, the water rates will be going up by 3-percent. Tjepkes said a public hearing will be held during AMU’s next Board meeting, with the increase taking effect Feb. 1st. He says for the average residential customer, that amounts to an extra 70-cents per month, to as much as one-dollar. The increase is necessary, he says, to keep up with the cost of operating the utility.