Show All Answers

1. What does a rate cover?

The rates you pay for electricity and the customer charge cover the costs to run the electric utility, including purchasing electricity or building generation projects, transmitting power from generation locations to Alameda, setting aside prudent financial reserves, reading meters, responding to service calls, maintaining and improving electrical circuits, billing, installing new poles and wires, and repairing damage caused by vandalism, storms and auto accidents.

2. Why does Alameda Municipal Power (AMP) have a monthly customer charge?

AMP has a monthly customer charge to help recover the true costs of basic customer service including meter reading, computers and databases, bill print and mailing services and customer account maintenance. There are a few other costs covered by the customer charge, but it does not cover the distribution system. These costs are recovered through the rates.

3. Who sets the rates for my electric service?

While public utility commissions set rates for investor-owned utilities, Alameda Municipal Power (AMP) is the City of Alameda's not-for-profit electric utility. The City's Public Utilities Board, which is appointed by the City Council, approves AMP's rates for electric service.

4. How often are rates adjusted?

The Public Utilities Board reviews rates annually.

5. What does my utility bill actually pay for?

Alameda Municipal Power's (AMP) entire budget to operate Alameda's electric system comes from our rates. Here's where your dollar goes, as of July 1, 2022:

• 28 cents for purchased power
• 23 cents for services and materials
• 18 cents for labor
• 16 cents for transmission delivery
• 8 cents for capital projects
• 7 cents is transferred to the City of Alameda

Capital projects are spread across services, labor, and materials.

6. How do you calculate the charges on my bill?

Based on your total usage the residential rate will vary depending first on your primary heat source and then on the associated tier levels. The kilowatt hour (kWh) allowance per tier has a corresponding rate for the summer and winter seasons and is prorated based on a 30-day billing cycle. Additional charges for residential customers are: customer charge, State Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Program Charge and Utility Users Tax.

7. When demand for electricity falls and sales decline, shouldn’t my rates also go down?

Not necessarily. Utility rates are tied to the cost of providing utility service-for example, the cost of building and maintaining distribution lines and poles. The cost to build and maintain these assets are there regardless of how much electricity is used during a given year. Customers can, however, reduce their electric bills by using less. Using less means customers don't pay the costs that vary with usage. A customer's electric bill can and will decrease by using less, even though the utility rates increase. The customer charge covers the cost of billing and meter readings costs-costs which are incurred regardless of how much energy a customer uses. If you want to know more about how your electric dollar is spent, click here. 

8. Why can’t the revenue from the short-term sale of renewable energy credits (RECs) and cap-and-trade allowances be used to lower bills?

The City of Alameda's Public Utilities Board, which oversees Alameda Municipal Power (AMP), has approved the short-term sale of renewable energy through 2019 of renewable energy that is not required to comply with AMP's Renewable Portfolio Standard. However, the Board has explicitly directed that the resulting revenue from those sales be used for additional greenhouse gas emission reductions in support of the City's Climate Action And Resiliency Plan.