Members of the Bowie City Council will consider further action on the proposed electric rate ordinance when they meet at 6 p.m. on March 11.
In the last meeting on Feb. 25 there was a tie vote on the ordinance with Mayor Gaylynn Burris breaking the tie to approve the ordinance, which was developed after it was discovered the ordinance was not changed in 2016 following the last rate increase in 2015.
There were no electric rate changes until last fall when a rate reduction was approved by the city council and it was understood through the engineers who thought it had previously been changed, a new ordinance was not needed.
City Manager Bert Cunningham told the council the formula used to calculate the costs is correct and the new numbers in the ordinance are “revenue neutral,” with no actual change in the bottom line.
Several council members took issue with that explanation insisting it was not revenue neutral and the city has been overbilling since Dec. 1, questioning if citizens should get a refund.
Cunningham disagreed, again stating there is no change in the bottom line.
There also was a question raised about whether or not the ordinance could be backdated to December 2018. The electric rate reduction went into effect Dec. 1, 2018 for residential and industrial customers.

Read more on the agenda in the weekend Bowie News.