HAVEN, Kan. — The Haven City Council approved changes to its customer service charges for electric rates during Monday’s meeting. At the same time, they came to an agreement to provide a rate for Haven Steel, which is the largest power user in the city.
Under the new agreement the industrial rate for Haven Steel is an all in rate of $0.09 per kilowatt hour. Under that rate, Haven Steel agreed to donate $100,000 to the city to help offset the Evergy rate distribution increase that they will pass onto the city starting next year. That donation will give the city a year to absorb the increase into their budget.
Haven Steel President Ken Brown had been pushing the city to come up with better electric rates and said any decision on rates to the company could have an impact on future expansion.
The city has been trying to come up with a way to not pass the increase onto its customers ever since Evergy announced a significant increase of around $7,000 per month. With the help of the Kansas Power Pool, the city recently had a rate study completed which gave the Council two options. One would have increased rates for industrial users which would have included Haven Steel and Kinkade Manufacturing. The other would have passed more of the burden onto residents. In the end, the Council decided to hold the line on a major increase either way with the exception of the baseline increase to $10 per month from the current $7.55 per month.
With the action, Mayor Adam Wright said the Council needs to come together and find ways to get the budget in line to help deal with the increase from Evergy and other budget challenges.