Belmont Light sets new power cost charge

Municipal Light Board · Meeting of July 9, 2026

BELMONT — The Belmont Municipal Light Board heard that a new power cost charge will hit customer bills starting in August. General Manager Craig Spinale and Finance Manager Maria Makar-Limanov told the board the utility's power cost adjustment balance swung from a projected $1.4 million overcollection to an estimated $400,000 undercollection, driven by higher wholesale natural gas costs. The fix: a $0.0071-per-kilowatt-hour charge effective Aug. 1, adding roughly $3.50 to $4.50 a month to an average residential bill over a seven-month recovery period.

Separately, Spinale reported the utility's $12 million voltage-conversion fund has fallen to about $600,000, with a decision on pace needed within six months to a year, even as the system converted about 3 MVA of load this year, bringing total converted load to 7 MVA, roughly 50 percent of the system. The board also reviewed three candidate cost-of-service methodologies, with staff recommending a "cost causation" version, but took no vote, asking for further data on solar customers and finalized cost-recovery ratios.

In the full story:

• Call to Order and Minutes Approval
• Cost of Service Methodology Review and Discussion
• Voltage Conversion Project Update
• General Manager's Report
• Executive Session
• Who Was There
• Organizations And Documents Referenced
• The complete report: 2,596 words

Source: the Municipal Light Board meeting of July 9, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.

Checked against the record: before publication this article was automatically compared with the meeting transcript.