By GABE JORDAN

gabe.jordan@gaflnews.com

CORDELE — The inevitable has happened. The Crisp County Power Commission voted earlier this week to increase residential and commercial power rates five percent.

Steve Rentfrow, CCPC general manager, said the across-the-board rate hike was the last thing any of the commission members wanted, but a mixture of volatile fuel costs and low water levels in the Flint River have made the decision necessary.

“We’ve been pushed into a position where we can’t continue operating like we have,” Rentfrow said. “We’re doing all we can now to hold the line where it is.”

Rentfrow said the rise in the cost of gasoline and diesel fuels is only part of the equation that resulted in the five percent rate increase, which goes into effect Aug. 1.

“The costs of coal and natural gas have actually risen higher and faster in some cases than the costs of gas and diesel,” he said. “It’s become a very difficult market to make accurate forecasts.”

Rentfrow pointed to data that shows the price of coal has nearly tripled since last summer while natural gas prices are almost double that of a year ago.

Making the situation worse is the severe drought that has strangled surface water sources like the Flint River and Lake Blackshear, which provide the electricity produced by CCPC’s hydroelectric generator. The power commission also generates electricity with a coal plant and a natural gas combustion turbine.

“The Flint River has been running at less than a third of normal for power generation for the last year and half,” Rentfrow said. “The drought is truly affecting all of us, and not just farmers.”