Burnet fights steep Atmos gas hike
The Burnet City Council chambers. Staff photo by Caden Senn
Atmos Energy is proposing a price hike that could raise natural gas utility rates by more than 42 percent in Burnet, and city leadership has fought back. The city suspended the effective date of the price increase as it disputes the legitimacy of the change.
On March 24, the Burnet City Council voted to delay the date of Atmos’ rate hike, originally scheduled for April 21, by 45 days.
Per the item briefing included in the City Council’s agenda (beginning on Page 83), if the proposed changes were to be approved, monthly bills could rise from $25 to $35 for residential sales, $140 to $179 for commercial sales, and $2,100 to $2,758 for industrial and transportation sales.
Atmos’ proposed increases are part of an application filed on Feb. 20 under the Gas Reliability Infrastructure Program, which allows utility companies to recover costs related to safety and reliability investments.
Under Texas law, cities have a limited degree of action in stopping utility increases as part of GRIP, but are allowed to suspend rate changes for the 45-day period to review the filing for accuracy.
As a second extension of the resolution, Burnet reaffirmed its membership in the Atmos Texas Municipalities. The ATM is a group of municipalities that work jointly to represent cities’ interests in similar Atmos rate cases.
This is not the first time in which local governments in the area have clashed with Atmos due to price hikes, as two similar cases took place in Burnet and Marble Falls at the beginning of last year. Additionally, the Marble Falls City Council has an agenda item discussing the suspension of the rate increases listed for their upcoming April 7 meeting.