The average residential customer in Ellsworth will pay about $8.27 a month in additional power costs under a plan proposed by the city’s electric provider, the WaKeeney-based Western Cooperative Electric.

General manager Tom Ruth and other Western representatives were in Ellsworth Oct. 10 to explain the cooperative’s plan. Board members will vote on the proposal at their December meeting. If approved, the new rates will go into effect in January.

Ruth said the longterm goal is to equalize rates.

At present, the cooperative operates two divisions, the result of Western’s expansion in 2005 to seven additional counties. The action came after Western and five other rural electric cooperatives formed Mid-Kansas Electric Company to purchase Aquila’s Kansas electric network, including Ellsworth.

Ruth said bringing the east and west divisions together will create efficiencies in services and reduce the cost of operating two systems.

Even at the new rate, Western’s cost to members will continue to be in the lowest quartile of Kansas retail electric providers, Ruth said. In 2018, the average residential rate for all Kansas cooperatives was 13.9 cents per kilowatt hour, compared to 12.04 cents for Western — a difference of 13.4 percent.

Under the proposal, Western’s rates would increase 1.9 percent across all classes.

Western buys its wholesale power from the Haysbased Sunflower Electric Power Corporation.

As part of the Aquila purchase, the MKEC cooperatives promised to maintain rates for five years. However, the cost of service study by an independent consultant determined Western has a revenue deficiency of $670,675.

“That’s what we need to recover to maintain our financial health,” Ruth said.

At the same time, he said growth within the cooperative’s territory is expected to be a relatively flat .4 percent to 2037.

The cooperative’s west division covers parts of Sheridan Graham, Rooks, Gove, Trego, Ness, Ellis and Rush counties. The last rate increase was in 2011.

The east division includes Rooks, Osborne, Russell, Lincoln, Barton, Rush and Ellsworth counties. The last rate increase came in 2015.