El Paso Electric to host community meetings on proposed $93M rate increase
City 'intervening' in El Paso Electric's rate increase plan
According to the City of El Paso, the meetings will include EPE representatives who will provide details about the increase, answer questions, and listen to feedback.
Here are the scheduled meetings with times and dates, according to the City:
Monday, April 7, at 5 p.m.
Don Haskins Recreation Center, 7400 High Ridge Dr.
Wednesday, April 9, at 5 p.m.
Northeast Regional Command Center, 9600 Dyer St.
Thursday, April 10, at 5 p.m.
Chamizal Community Center, 2119 Cypress Ave.
Monday, April 14, at 5 p.m.
Michelle T. Adjemian Recreation Center, 9031 Viscount Blvd.
Wednesday, April 16, at 5 p.m.
The Beast Urban Park, 13501 Jason Crandall Dr.
Thursday, April 24, at 5 p.m.
Pavo Real Recreation Center, 9301 Alameda Ave
The average EPE residential customer could see a 23 percent increase on their bill, roughly $22.39, if the proposal is approved, according to the City.
In addition to the intervention, the proposed rate is temporarily paused for 90 days, according to the City.
'When a proposal has the potential to impact so many families, it's important to create space for open dialogue,' El Paso Mayor Renard Johnson said. 'A rate increase of this size deserves a full public discussion, and I encourage El Pasoans to attend these meetings, ask questions, and make their voices heard.'
Before the City Council voted to intervene in the proposed rate increase, Johnson sent a statement to the media in January saying he is 'deeply concerned' about the increase.
Mayor 'deeply concerned' about El Paso Electric's proposed rate increase
According to El Paso Matters, residential customers, who make up roughly 90 percent of EPE's Texas customer base, would see the biggest percentage increase in bills.
Small and large businesses would see increases between 3 to 7.5 percent, while medium businesses will see their bills decline by two percent, according to El Paso Matters.
El Paso Electric seeks rate increase that could add $23 a month to average household bill
'The City has also engaged outside legal and technical experts to analyze EPE's filings to ensure that only fair and necessary costs are passed on to ratepayers,' according to the City.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Chicago Tribune
9 hours ago
- Chicago Tribune
Waukegan Community Unit School District 60 receiving additional revenue from state's evidence-based funding program
As Gwen Polk prepares the budget she will present to the Waukegan Community Unit School District 60 Board of Education in September, she has learned that she has approximately $6.2 million in additional revenue courtesy of the State of Illinois' evidence-based funding program. Though every school district receives some of the $9.25 billion appropriated by the Illinois General Assembly, Tier 1 districts like Waukegan and North Chicago School District 187 face a harder time adequately funding education, including a smaller property tax base, and receive the most. When the Illinois General Assembly approved the final $350 million in May — $43 million was held for distribution at a later time — Lake County's 13 Tier 1 districts and the Regional Office of Education were awarded 87.5% of the county's total, with District 60 getting 38% — $6.2 million. Polk, District 60's associate superintendent for business and financial services, said the proposed budget currently sits at slightly less than $327 million. With COVID-19 federal relief funds no longer available, the additional money from the state is a big help. 'We're all affected by the fiscal cliff,' Polk said, referring to the federal money schools received nationwide. 'The increase (from the state) is going to help.' Lake County's 47 school districts and the Regional Office of Education collectively received just under $16.3 million in additional evidence-based funding earlier this month from the state, bringing its total to more than $562 million to augment their budgets. For the Waukegan public schools, Polk said evidence-based funding provides for more than half of its total revenue, which also includes property tax income. The approximate district-wide enrollment for the 2025-2026 school year is 14,000. By contrast, Barrington Community Unit School District 220, a Tier 4 district — they receive the smallest amount of evidence-based funding — with approximately 8,100 students, received just over $6.5 million. State Sen. Adriane Johnson, D-Buffalo Grove, said evidence-based funding became law in Illinois in 2017 to help all schools get to a level of funding to adequately educate youngsters. 'Education is the great equalizer,' Johnson said, 'If students' schools are adequately funded they they get the support and resources they need. This helps students in low-income areas get those resources.' Originally proposing $550 million for the final round of evidence-based funding, Johnson said that with a tight state budget, $350 million was the most she and her colleagues could get passed. In Waukegan, like most school districts, the bulk of the budget goes toward salaries and benefits for teachers, staff, and administrators. The current evidence-based funding is 4.1% more than a year ago, but not close to full adequacy. With the largest share of evidence-based funding in Lake County, District 60's adequacy level is 72%, well below the ideal amount. Barrington's adequacy level is 119%. Some of the highest adequacy levels are found where the property values are also high. Leading Lake County in adequacy is Rondout School District 72 at 255% which includes parts of Lake Forest, Lake Bluff, Green Oaks, and Mettawa. Bannockburn School District 106 is at 202% while Lake Forest High School District 115 is at 193% and Township High School District 113 serving Deerfield and Highland Park High Schools is at 190%. District 187 Principal John Price said the adequacy level in North Chicago dropped from 78% to 71%. A year ago, there was a large influx of migrant children that is not the case this year. The district is receiving $1.67 million, the second-highest amount in Lake County. Price said District 187's budget is approximately $80 million, and its evidence-based funding totals just under $40.1 million.
NBC News
2 days ago
- NBC News
It was supposed to change pro track. Now, short on cash, it owes athletes millions.
As summer began in 2024, former Olympic gold-medal sprinter Michael Johnson stood in a downtown Los Angeles restaurant that had been rented out for a big announcement. Johnson said he had secured $30 million in funding for a new track league, promising payments never before seen in track and field. In a sport where even top stars earn modest livings by the standards of professional athletes, Grand Slam Track represented a huge windfall. More than one-third of that promised funding would be earmarked for prize money alone, a pool of more than $3 million per meet. And the biggest winners at each of its four meets would pocket $100,000 per meet — five times as much as first place earned on track's other global circuit. Additionally, 48 competitors who signed contracts with the circuit could earn an annual base compensation, plus a cut of revenue from group licensing. Yet just 14 months after Johnson's grand announcement, and four months after the group held its first meet in Jamaica, Grand Slam Track has yet to pay many of its athletes and vendors, and Johnson acknowledged Friday that the cash crunch — what one source said was around $13 million in unpaid money to athletes alone — poses an existential threat to the fate of the circuit returning for a second season. 'The cruelest paradox in all of this is we promised that athletes would be fairly and quickly compensated. Yet, here we are struggling with our ability to compensate them,' said a statement signed by Johnson that was posted on social media Friday. Johnson also maintained that he is 'confident about the future of Grand Slam Track.' NBC News spoke with four agents who represent multiple athletes still owed money by Grand Slam Track, who spoke on condition of anonymity to retain relationships with organizers. Three expressed serious doubts the circuit would be able to drum up enough funding from investors and confidence from athletes to return for a second season, in 2026. A fourth said he was willing to give the benefit of the doubt, for now. 'My message to our athletes is, look, it's not good,' that agent said. 'But on the other hand, their intent is to pay and we're going to wait for them to pay us. Otherwise, they won't have a future.' Agents, coaches and meet organizers in track and field said their concerns about Grand Slam's trouble go far beyond receiving the money owed from the three meets it hosted this spring in Jamaica, Florida and Philadelphia. If Grand Slam Track were ultimately successful in drawing strong ratings and crowds, there was a hope that such demand could entice more outside investors with deep pockets to pour money into a sport that often operates on shoestring budgets compared to other professional leagues. 'It feels like to a lot of people that this will be a massive deterrent to future endeavors,' said Paul Doyle, a prominent athlete agent who founded and has also operated a pro track circuit, the American Track League, since 2014. 'It wasn't all negative. I feel for them in that sense that they're in a tough spot.' On the day Johnson announced Grand Slam Track in 2024, he was bullish but also admitted the venture would take time to generate money. 'If I had an investor who said, 'Well, I need it to be profitable in Year 2,' I would not take their money because that's impossible,' Johnson said in 2024. 'It's just not going to happen. Our investors have come on and said, 'Hey, we believe in the long-term viability of this.'' That viability has been under scrutiny ever since Grand Slam Track canceled its fourth and final meet, scheduled for June. It emailed athlete representatives in July notifying them that earnings from their first meet, held in Jamaica in April, would be paid by that month's end. On Aug. 4, a spokesperson for Grand Slam Track said that it was 'anticipating investor funds to hit our account imminently, and the athletes are our top priority.' As of Friday's announcement, however, Grand Slam had only paid athletes for the appearance fees they were owed in Jamaica, but not any prize money. Johnson, in his statement, suggested that the funding shortfall was due to a change in circumstances 'in ways beyond our control.' Johnson previously told Front Office Sports that an investor had pulled funds. 'Due to our strong desire to make this right as quickly as possible, we offered dated payment timelines and have been unable to meet them,' Johnson said in Friday's statement. 'Understandably, this has led to frustration, disappointment, and inconvenience to our athletes, agents, and vendors. I know this damages trust. I know this makes some wonder if our vision can survive. That is why we are not just addressing the immediate problem; we are putting systems and partnerships in place to make sure it never happens again.' 'While I am no stranger to setbacks and overcoming obstacles, as an athlete, professionally, and personally, this current situation of not being able to pay our athletes and partners has been one of the most difficult challenges I've ever experienced,' the statement added. Prize money payments that take weeks to arrive are not unusual in track and field; if anything, they are the rule. In extreme cases, athletes have said that prize money payments have taken more than a calendar year to hit their accounts. Prize money from March's world indoor championships in China still has yet to arrive, one agent said. Delays largely stem from drug testing, because meets typically wait to pay until knowing an athlete was clean. Results generally take 10-30 days to return. In contracts with its 'racers,' Grand Slam Track stated that drug testing would be completed within 21 days of each meet, and that an athlete's promotional fee and earned prize money would be paid within 10 days of learning the doping results, according to a source. Delays are commonplace. But what made Grand Slam Track different, one agent said, was that there was a belief it already had its announced $30 million in funding waiting in escrow, ready to pay as obligated. Instead, they now wait for emailed updates from Grand Slam organizers. 'You're not getting anything directly answered,' one agent said. ''Our goal is to pay.' Well you can pay, but when? That doesn't sit well with anyone.'
CNBC
2 days ago
- CNBC
Low technical indicators mean investors should lean into markets, says Piper Sandler's Craig Johnson
Craig Johnson, Piper Sandler chief market technician, joins 'Power Lunch' to discuss Johnson's thoughts on equity markets, the rally for small cap stocks and much more.
