Power bill relief envisioned in Westminster

At a Westminster meeting, a couple of figures were tossed around as to how much relief certain retail electric customers can expect for their participation in a voluntary “smart meter” program.  This morning Mayor Brian Ramey predicted his city will stick with a 5% break on the bill of the smart meter customer.  Last night the mayor and council heard results of an electric rate study by the company UTEC.  Among the interested in the audience was the leader of a volunteer citizens’ committee which is exploring ways to lower power bills.  Teresa Bryson said she spoke to one of the presenters of the study by the UTEC company.  Bryson said that official told her it’s his opinion that it would be unwise for Westminster to try to extract itself from a long running contractor to buy power wholesale through PMPA—a consortium of municipalities that have invested in part of a Duke Energy nuclear reactor.  Bryson said, to her, that’s “real disappointing.”  Bryson said council members also talked about raising retail water rates of out of town customers.  Bryson said her committee opposes that, as do, council members Susan Bryson and Yousef Mefleh.