BY PAIGE RAMSEY
Los Alamos

Once again, the DPU is proposing a rate increase for Los Alamos County.

 In the recent meeting that included the gas rate increase vote (which did not pass), it was proposed that Los Alamos County also increase the water rate to ensure a sufficient water supply to meet customer demand, including increased needs at LANL and new housing in both White Rock and the Los Alamos townsite. Residents are once again being “asked”—more like told—to foot the bill for LANL’s and private housing developments’ water infrastructure.

Los Alamos County has been raising rates consistently for years. At the most recent county council meeting, Councilor Ryti stated that during his eight years on the council, this would have been the ninth utility rate increase he’d approved! He stated, “I’ve been voting on rate increases more than once a year on average.” That is insane!

For a breakdown of the rate increases:

• Water & Sewer: Water and sewer rates were increased annually as part of a six-year rate structure approved in late 2019, followed by another set of increases approved in 2025.
• Electricity: Rates were raised in 2015 and 2023, and a multi-year ordinance approved in 2025 enacted consecutive increases taking effect in 2025 and 2026.
• Natural Gas: Gas rates have been increasing drastically, moving from 2021 increases to significant jumps in July 2024.

With all these increases, the county has screwed over people with existing solar power and made it increasingly difficult to start new projects. A quick search on the web brings up people complaining that the county is putting up roadblocks for solar panels. The county is saying that anything over current usage is not acceptable. But what happens when people have plans to buy an EV? That will require more capacity than is currently needed.  Additionally, these people are saying is that batteries cannot be installed either because of push back from the county.

Editor’s note: The Reporter submitted this letter to DPU on June 17 but has not received a response from the person who was to review it.

Letters to the editor represent the opinions of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or editorial stance of the Los Alamos Reporter. The Reporter assumes no responsibility or liability for the factual accuracy of statements made by contributors.