By Bonnie Culverhouse

Since signing a utility contract with Louisiana Energy & Power Authority, Minden residents should be seeing a drop in utility bills soon.

Minden Mayor Nick Cox showed members of the city council Monday information he gleaned from the Louisiana Public Service Commission that compares November’s bills for the city with residential areas that use Claiborne Electric, Entergy and Southwestern Electric Power Company – the town’s former provider.

“LEPA is not under the jurisdiction of the public service commission, so we are not listed on there,” Cox explained. “I put our numbers at the bottom of the page.”

Cox’s numbers – from LEPA – show Minden’s kilowatt-hour rate at 11.6 cents.

“While we were at 11.6, Claiborne was at 12.7, Entergy was at 13.5 and SWEPCO is at 13.8,” he said. “The average across all of these users was 12.9.”

Cox said in November, the customers’ savings in the city added up to around $238,000.

“That’s a rough number,” he said. “I’ve had several citizens mention that their bill was the cheapest they’ve ever had.”

LPSC’s numbers are public record and may be found on their website, https://www.lpsc.louisiana.gov .

In a March 2025 special session, council members voted to enact a resolution amending the budget and giving Mayor Nick Cox the authority to allocate that money and settle the previous contract with Southwestern Electric Power Company, the city’s provider of power for the past 16 years of a 20-year contract.

LEPA became the city’s power provider June 1, 2025. Residents were warned it would take some time for their utility bills to reflect the summer increases from running their air conditioning.