A tweak to residential and small commercial electricity billing is coming Oct. 1, after the Athens City Council voted this week in favor of the change.

First introduced at the council’s April 14 meeting, the now-approved rate change — affecting customers of Athens Electric — will charge residential and small commercial customers an additional $2 per billing cycle.

Both the city’s utility department and supplier TVA have described the change as “revenue neutral” and unlikely to negatively affect customers’ overall power bills, thanks to commensurate offsetting reductions in per-kWh [kilowatt-hour] rates for those same customers.

The council approved the change on a 4-1 vote, with council member Harold Wales — who voiced concern over the proposal earlier this month — casting the lone dissenting vote.

While voting in favor of the measure, council member Wayne Harper noted that his approval came after the electric department assuaged his own concerns over how the change might affect customers. “… [T]he electric manager told us, last meeting, [that] this is revenue neutral. So it shouldn’t affect anybody; but I’ll vote yes,” he said.

City utilities described the $2 per-month billing adjustment as “an effort to minimize lost revenue” for the electric department. In addition to the flat $2 increase, the utility noted, “[t]here would also be a corresponding reduction in the energy rate of $.00154 per kWh [kilowatt-hour]” for residential customers, alongside “a reduction of $.00180 per kWh” for small commercial customers.

City representatives previously explained that the Athens Electric Department’s cost to provide power to small-demand customers (including residential and small commercial accounts) averages approximately $20 per month. The approved $2 charge is meant to mitigate disruption in utility revenues during weather periods when customers’ cumulative power demand outpaces TVA’s ability to produce it at a pace that is cost effective.

In other business at its April 28 meeting, the council:

— Adopted an ordinance to exempt certain covered items from the municipal sales and use tax during the third full weekend of July of this year, in preparation for the city’s participation in the upcoming Alabama State Sales Tax Holiday.

— Adopted a resolution approving the $11,238.88 purchase of crowd & traffic control equipment from Uline, and from Crowd Control Company (in the amount of $14,397) for a combined total cost of $25,635.88. Funding for the purchases will be drawn from the police department’s existing capital expenditure account ($5,035.88) and from a Homeland Security Grant ($20,600).

— Adopted a resolution formalizing the city’s school security agreement with Athens City Schools.

— Adopted a resolution authorizing Mayor Ronnie Marks to enter into agreements with the Alabama Department of Transportation for right-of-way maintenance along U.S. Highway 31 for a sidewalk installation along the highway’s western side from Elm Street to Juniper Circle. The project also will include a pedestrian bridge over Swan Creek, as well as traffic signal improvements and the addition of a turn lane at the highway’s intersection with the Elm Street/Sportsplex Loop.

— Adopted a resolution approving the purchase & installation of rectangular, rapidly flashing beacons, paid from the Gas Tax fund, for an existing pedestrian crosswalk at Market Street in front of Athens-Limestone Hospital, contingent on the project’s cost not exceeding $12,000.

— Moved until the council’s next regular meeting an agenda item to consider a resolution approving payment to Inline Electric Supply Company, Inc., in an amount not to exceed $36,000, for supplies to convert the intersections of Hobbs Street and Marion Street; Washington Street and East Street; and Washington and Beaty Street from traffic signals to stop signs.

— Adopted a resolution approving the submission of the city’s Annual Municipal Pollution Prevention (MWPP) report to the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) for the Athens Water Services Department, encompassing the 2024 calendar year.

— Rescheduled for Monday, May 19 the council’s upcoming May 26 regular meeting, which would have fallen on Memorial Day.

— Approved recent travel & education expenses for Water Services Department personnel.

— Approved recent travel & education expenses for Sanitation Department personnel.

— Approved recent travel & education expenses for Fire Department personnel.

— Approved recent travel & education expenses for Electric Department personnel.

— Reappointed Cleophra Scales to the NCA310 Board (relating to developmental disabilities) for a six-year term to expire on April 30, 2031.

— Appointed Jennifer (Jenny) Ford to the Athens Historic Preservation Commission for a three-year term to expire on April 28, 2028.

— Set a public hearing for the council’s June 9 regular meeting to consider the request of Ken Garner to rezone approximately 33.4 acres of property located directly south of Roy Long Road East and approximately 3,600’ west of U.S. Highway 31 South. The proposed measure would rezone the property from M-1 (Light Industrial) to R-1-3 (High Density Single Family Residential).

— Declared surplus a number of police department vehicles, to be disposed via public auction.

— Approved the $34,589.88 purchase of a Kubota Model L4060GST tractor from Huntsville Tractor & Equipment, via the Sourcewell government purchasing cooperative, to be paid from the Water Services Department budget for fiscal year 2025.

— Approved the purchase of a 16 foot trailer from Lone Wolf Trailers, in an amount not to exceed $2,750, with the purchase to be funded from the Street Department’s existing capital account.

— Approved the $62,720.50 purchase of a 2025 Ford Expedition SUV from Long Lewis Ford of the Shoals, to be funded through the Electric, Gas, Water and Wastewater Department’s Capital Expense budgets for fiscal year 2025.

— Approved the minutes of the council’s April 14 regular meeting.