Advocacy Groups Weigh in on MLGW Rate Hike Proposal

Memphis Light, Gas and Water’s (MLGW) price hike proposal will be voted on by city council this month, but advocates say it needs more work. In recent years, MLGW and local advocacy groups have clashed over multi-year rate hikes. “It’s painful any time we see increases, but we also want to make sure we have the infrastructure to prevent some of the challenges we don’t want to have to have,” said Memphis Mayor Paul Young in a media meeting on November 9th. Local advocates argue the financial burden shouldn’t fall on residential households, and have called for doing away with the current declining block-rate structure while freezing residential rates. How Does This Compare to Current Rates or Previous Proposals? To understand the current situation, readers must look back several decades. Under a policy known as “Mission 2000,” MLGW maintained a “no rate increases period” for roughly a decade in an effort to keep Memphis among the cheapest utility markets in the country.

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