A power surcharge in Manley Hot Springs would nearly triple

Electric customers in Manley Hot Springs would pay a fuel surcharge nearly three times higher under a rate update the community's utility has filed with state regulators. A second charge, covering power the utility buys from a small generating facility, would more than double after solar sales were taken out of the calculation.

TDX Manley Generating says the increases recover what it actually spends on fuel and solar, not profit.

The state assistance that softens rural electric bills is not moving. Manley's Power Cost Equalization level stays at $0.7424 per kilowatt-hour, the maximum allowed this fiscal year. That program exists to bring rural rates closer to urban ones, not to cap surcharges, so an increase of this size lands largely on customers.

For scale, the fuel surcharge alone would go from about 30 cents to about 82 cents per kilowatt-hour.

The filing is the utility's quarterly update for the period beginning Sept. 1, though TDX has asked that the new rates take effect Oct. 2 instead.