Power, in numbers

The money is in the fiscal 2015 budget approved May 21, which projects $12.4 million in expenses.

The rate change was planned for this year after the state government looked what Stowe Electric was charging. A 2013 Public Service Board investigation found Stowe was bringing in more revenue than it should.

The utility has since issued rebates and lowered its rates, but wants to make changes that will work for the long term.

La Capra Associates, a Boston-based energy consulting firm with an office in Williston, has the contract to help Stowe redesign its rates. The firm has already started going over Stowe’s books, according to Stowe Electric controller Kevin Weishaar.

“They’re number-crunching for the next month or so,” Weishaar said Monday.

Weishaar said the current rates, which dropped 3.5 percent after the state investigation, will stay in effect for the next two years.

The Public Service Board also had influence elsewhere in the Stowe Electric budget, on the salary side. As recommended, Stowe Electric hired Matt Rutherford as manager of regulatory compliance, an in-house job to make sure the utility stays abreast of the power industry’s myriad rules and regulations.

“He’s our eyes and ears in Montpelier,” Weishaar said. “The PSB felt we needed a bigger presence there.”

He said the new job should reduce the legal budget, since Rutherford amounts to in-house legal counsel.

Inside the budget

The $12.4 million Stowe Electric budget includes an extra $328,000 for pay and benefits. Part of that results from two new jobs and part comes from a 1.5 percent pay raise for all unionized workers.

The new two-year contract with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers also includes a 2.5 percent pay raise the following year.

It also increases meal reimbursement allowances; Stowe isn’t the cheapest place to find a meal.

All in all, total non-power-related expenses went up 5.5 percent, or $168,000. According to Weishaar, the department’s smart meters helped offset the pay increases: Gone are the meter-reading days, and with them $26,000 in expenses. Billing expenses were slashed by $89,000. The smart meters helped take $20,000 from computer-related costs, too.

Purchased power and transmission costs are slated to increase 7.4 percent, to roughly $9.2 million. Meanwhile, the department expects to collect $11.5 million from its customers. That includes an extra 31 percent from Stowe Mountain Resort for its projected snowmaking costs.

The resort pays a special tariff for snowmaking, but otherwise is a regular commercial customer. It plans on making more snow next year, or at least using more electricity to do so. The resort is budgeting $1.1 million next year to run its guns, compared to $693,000 this past winter.

“They are very specific about when they want it and when they want to use it,” Weishaar said.