OptiLink TV, water rates to go up next year

Published 8:24 pm Monday, November 13, 2017

Dalton Utilities’ OptiLink cable TV customers will see their bills go up next year.

The utility’s board approved a 2018 budget Monday that forecasts $209.3 million in revenue, up from $206.2 million in 2017.

That budget includes a $3 a month increase for each cable package to cover increases in what cable companies are charging to allow OptiLink to carry their channels.

After approving the budget, the board passed an additional $3 increase for each cable TV package.

The antenna basic package will go to $22.90 a month from $16.90, for instance, as a result of the increases.

“From the time we developed our budget, we received additional increases from the broadcast channels, the ABCs, the NBCs, FOX,” said CEO Tom Bundros. “The increases were quite large. We found out about these after we’ve proposed our initial $3 increase, and that increase was really just to catch up on past increases.”

In addition, water customers will see a 2 percent increase in rates. For a residential water customer inside Dalton city limits using an average 7,500 gallons of water of month, that increase will be 49 cents per month. For a residential customer outside the city using an average 7,500 gallons of water a month, that increase will be 66 cents per month.

Those increases will help pay off up to $75 million in bonds the Dalton City Council voted to allow the utility to issue earlier this year. Utility officials say most of that bond money will be used to perform maintenance and upgrades on the water system that was deferred during the Great Recession.

But industrial electrical customers will see a cut of 2 to 5 percent.

Utility officials say the cuts are needed to stay competitive.

According to the industry website Electricity Local, residential rates in Dalton are 11.01 percent below the state average, but industrial rates are 0.84 percent above the state average.