As weatherization money flows from the Federal Government that is a decent chance that it may work.  Weatherization project goals are geared to decrease the consumption of electrical needs of ratepayers.  Most Cities in both the western and eastern power agencies depend on utility revenue to balance their budgets. 

Rocky Mount and Wilson is no exception to this rule.  Both Cities use utility proceeds to put back into the General Fund to pay for safety related costs such as fire and police.

Another issue to be considered relevant to decreased consumption of power is the never ending debt load on the 32 municipalities of NCEMPA.  The debt is currently 2.5 Billion.  Rocky Mount’s share of that debt is 400 Million.  If consumption goes down, rates will certainly have to go up just to cover the debt load.

The Town of Statesville is increases its utility cost to ratepayers by 8% mostly due to increased wholesale hikes by ElectriCities, but also they have had a decrease in consumption.

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