In the May 2013 city newsletter the mayor had this to say about the city recent utility rate changes:

Based upon the mayor’s calculations it seems reasonable to conclude that city residents will be seeing double digit percentage decreases in their utility bills. Of course, this can’t be true.

Here are the utility cost figures for my family of four, which lives in a 2,200 square foot home. We get all of our utilities from the city, including natural gas:

Annual cost (12 month period) before the rate changes:  $2,924
Annual cost (12 month period) after the rate changes:  $2,845

As you can see the rate changes will result in a 2.7 percent decrease in my annual costs or a savings of $79.  While this may seem good remember that Eagle Mountain’s rates were already a lot higher than the market’s prevailing rates in Utah County. Before the rate changes EMC’s rates were about 20 percent above the prevailing rates. After the changes, EMC’s rates are still 17.45 about the market’s average. If you use more electricity and less gas than my family, you may not see any savings at all.

If you are a resident of Eagle Mountain and you use propane instead of natural gas, you will get none of the savings from the city’s gas rate cut, but you will experience the city’s electricity rate increases, which only come into effect after the November election.

The staggered timing of these changes is no coincidence. If the city had raised its electricity rates in May, every resident in the city would have seen big increases in their summer bills, which would have made the mayor’s chances of getting re-elected even worse.