By Pat Culverhouse
Residents and businesses in Sibley will soon be seeing a new name on their utility bills following a vote by the town’s Board of Aldermen Monday, but that change most likely won’t be coming in the immediate future.
Aldermen voted 5-0 to adopt an ordinance which does not renew the town’s contract with Entergy to supply electrical power, a 25-year deal that was due to end in January of this year. Sibley’s new power provider will be Claiborne Electric Co-op, a Homer-based cooperative serving locations across six parishes in northwest Louisiana.
During a public hearing prior to the vote, Mayor Jimmy Williams said if aldermen approve the ordinance a changeover in providers won’t be happening right away.
“Claiborne and Entergy will negotiate the purchase of existing equipment like poles, lines and meters in the town so if we vote tonight to change, it won’t happen tomorrow,” Williams said. “I expect this could end up in court in arbitration. This is big money.”
Williams said he had researched the issue and determined savings to the town and its residents more than justified the change. Residents, he said, would see, on average, somewhere between 25 and 30 percent less on metered electricity.
Plus, Williams said, there would be no “hurricane fee.” That’s the monthly charge related to the 2020 hurricanes, 2021 February winter storms and a portion of Hurricane Ida costs included on bills starting in June. Reports show on average, a customer using 1,000 kilowatt hours can see an approximate $9 increase in their bills.
“This hurricane charge should be illegal in my opinion,” he said. “On just one month’s bill at my residence, I paid $70 in hurricane charges. In February, 2023, the town of Sibley paid a $571 hurricane fee.”
Williams said one monthly metered bill for Sibley’s town hall ran just over $1,000. If Claiborne Electric had been supplying power, that same bill would have been $786.
“I believe we would save just the town of Sibley from $15,000 to $17,000 annually with the changeover,” he said.
Negotiations between Claiborne Electric and Entergy could take from two to three years to complete, but there will be no interruption in electrical service to the residents, Williams said.
“We appreciate everything Entergy has done for us, but this is a business decision that I and the aldermen believe is in the best interest of the residents of Sibley,” he said.
Also during Monday’s meeting, CPA Travis Morehart gave Sibley’s aldermen a positive report on the town’s 2022-23 audit.
“There are no findings, nothing negative to report,” Morehart said. “You have a lot going on in town, and you just need to keep managing as tightly as possible.”