KFDA - NewsChannel 10 / Amarillo News, Weather, SportsGet ready for an electric bill price hike

Get ready for an electric bill price hike

NewsChannel 10

Amarillo, Texas - There's an electric bill price hike headed your way. Starting next year, you'll pay about 12% more than you do now. For an average family, that's roughly $8 a month.

The reason for the price hike is a new federal EPA law mandating Texas and nearly 2 dozen other states reduce emissions because the agency claims they're causing smog and pollution on the east coast. In order to meet the new standards by the January first deadline, Xcel Energy will have to revamp the way it creates fuel.

Xcel's Director of Regulatory Administration Alice Jackson says, "We are having to make coal the second option. So the least expensive option is having to be called on second. So essentially that means we operate our natural gas before we operate our coal therefore increasing the overall cost to the customers." 

Xcel Energy says their issue with the new regulation is not the purpose of it, but rather the short timeline they've been given to comply.

If energy companies don't meet the standards by January first, they'll be fined $37,000 a day times however many tons of emissions that are over the limit.

That could easily add up to tens of millions of dollars a year.