Many people in Claremore are already frustrated by higher-than-normal utility bills, and on Monday, they learned their bills could get even higher.
The Grand River Dam Authority (GRDA) says it’s raising its rates for the City of Claremore, but the city says that should only raise people’s bills by a couple of dollars a month.
Several people in Claremore say their bills increased by hundreds of dollars, even though their power was out for several days during the tornado in May. Now, they’re worried their bills are going to be even higher with this GRDA rate increase.
At the Claremore City Council meeting Monday evening, the GRDA said its rates for the city will increase 4% each year until 2026.
John Feary, the Claremore City Manager, says this will increase the cost for customers, but should only be about a couple of dollars a month. However, people are already frustrated because they say their bills are too high, especially when they went up after the tornado hit, when power was out for many people for more than a week.
Feary says people are only being charged for what they use, but many people don’t believe that’s the case and are worried utilities may become too expensive.
“There were no charges applied to anybody’s meter when the power was out, that’s just mechanically impossible,” said Feary. “So people that claim that we got charged for days without power — no you didn’t, that’s mechanically and physically impossible. There have been no increases. But this is every year.”
“For the senior citizens, for the young families that are struggling to even put food on the table, this is a big deal,” said Lori Hamilton, who lives in Claremore. “I’ve talked with multiple citizens who have thousand-dollar-a-month electric bills. And that’s astronomical.”
The increased rate from the GRDA to the City of Claremore starts in October.