Lubbock Power and Light, in a monthly meeting of the Electric Utility Board, took action Tuesday to approve a rate increase in October. The change, 5.75%, is the third increase of the base rate as part of a five-year plan.

“It is working like we intended it to,” said board chairman Greg Taylor. “The system is designed to basically build it an incremental increase that allows us to take on improvement projects, improvements in our infrastructure and transmission, that we can then do over a long period of time.”

Taylor also said, “It’s so that we don’t have ups and downs, dramatic volatile changes in rates. To address specific things but we have a modest increase that allows us to take these things on in a planned way and as we go forward.”

The base rate increase is expected to raise about $3.5 million, which would fund two major projects — an upgrade of the internal transmission system, and changes to the customer billing system, according to LP&L spokesperson Matt Rose.

The increase results in a higher average bill of $1.86 per month in the winter months, and $2.51 in the summer months, Rose said.

“Those of us who were here in the Summer of 2013, we remember what it was like to have a one time large rate increase, because of delayed action. Nobody wants to revisit that,” Rose added.

“We have a very low base rate. Our base rate, unlike other utilities, our base rate only accounts for 30% of our total rate. 70% is our purchased power cost recovery, which is a direct pass through of our cost from Xcel Energy,” Rose said.

The EUB also passed the 2016-2017 fiscal year budget on a 8-0 vote, which totals approximately $235 million. It is down $6 million from 2015-2016.

Also addressed in Tuesday’s meeting, a discussion on transferring power from overhead power lines to underground power systems downtown. The underground system is part of a long term plan that is in the early phases.

“Our infrastructure downtown is very old, is very antiquated,” Taylor said. “It’s less reliable all the time, so going to an underground facility or underground lines is essential to maintaining not just the development, but the reliability of our system. So, that’s one issue.

Taylor said, “The other issue is that we were discussing is the reconnecting of our downtown customers once the underground lines, or pad mounds or transformers, are put in. So that’s an ongoing discussion.”

“Everyone knows there will be some cost involved in that in the reconnection and so getting our arms around that, we feel it’s probably part of our  responsibility as a board to at least begin that discussion. It may not be our decision, but we believe it’s something we can at least start the discussion on,” he added.