The Rising Costs of Keeping the Lights On

As a community-owned electric utility, Central Lincoln does everything possible to keep your electricity costs low. To help put our rates in perspective, the average home uses about 1,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity each month. At that level of usage, a typical Central Lincoln residential customer pays about $116.40—significantly less than what customers pay with nearby utilities like Pacific Power ($166.84), Blachly-Lane Electric Cooperative ($166.54), or Consumers Power, Inc. ($139.00). While we continue to operate as efficiently as possible, rising costs are putting upward pressure on utility rates.

Starting this month, our residential price per kilowatt-hour has increased by 5%. This adjustment reflects higher costs across the utility industry, and one of the biggest drivers is simple: nearly everything it takes to deliver power has gotten more expensive.

Take wooden power poles, for example. These are the backbone of our system, supporting the wires and equipment that deliver electricity to homes and businesses across our communities. Since 2020, the cost of these poles has jumped by 50%. Crossarms—which support power lines at the top of poles—have increased by the same amount.

And it’s not just poles and crossarms. Nearly every essential part of our system now costs more:

Ground wire, used for lightning protection and safety, is up 77%
Secondary overhead wire, which connects homes and businesses, has increased 30%
Primary overhead wire, carrying electricity across longer distances, is up 14%
Conduit, which houses and protects the wires to your home, now costs 20% more
Primary underground wire is up 23%, and secondary underground wire has risen 45%
Pad-mounted transformers, often tucked away in neighborhoods to serve underground systems, are now 83% more expensive

In addition to materials, the cost of power is rising. The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), which supplies nearly all of Central Lincoln’s wholesale electricity, recently proposed a 9.8% increase for power and a 21% increase for transmission—costs we must pay to receive and deliver electricity to our service area. While still more affordable than purchasing from the private market, these increases add to the pressure.

With local, state, federal, and even global economic forces at play, nearly everything we need to build, maintain, and repair the system that serves you has become more expensive. These rising costs stem from worldwide challenges, including supply chain disruptions, higher prices for raw materials, and increased demand as communities everywhere work to upgrade aging infrastructure.

We’ve worked hard to absorb many of these increases through efficient operations and careful planning. And because we provide electricity at actual cost—with no profit margin—our rates remain significantly lower than many utilities in Oregon.

Still, with expenses climbing across nearly every part of our operations, this rate adjustment became necessary to ensure we can continue delivering the reliable service you count on—without cutting corners on maintenance or safety.

As your not-for-profit utility, every decision we make balances reliability and affordability. While we can’t control global prices, we’ll keep doing everything we can to reduce their impact on your power bill.

View the full list of updated rates on our Rate Schedules Page.

material costs
The image above illustrates the rise in the cost of essential utility materials. If you prefer a text version, here it is: