Developing LMUD's Budget
Each June, our board of directors adopts a budget for the coming fiscal year, which runs from July 1 through June 30 of the following calendar year. Developing the budget presents an opportunity for staff and the board to evaluate how we use available funds to fulfill our mission as a publicly owned electric utility. Boiled down to its simplest terms, that mission is to provide reliable electric service at the lowest practical cost.
This month, the board will hold a budget workshop where staff will present a draft of the 2024 and 2025 budgets. The workshop is an opportunity for the board and staff to go over the budget details, capital projects, and related issues. The workshop date will be set at the May 28 board meeting. The final review of the budget is during the regular board meeting on June 25.
During this meeting, staff will ask the board to formally adopt the budget—this process is defined by the Municipal Utility District Act of California. Once adopted, the budget will become our guiding financial document for the fiscal year.
We are keenly aware that controlling our costs is important to our customers since cost increases directly impacts the rate you pay for the service we provide. Overall, the budget will reflect the efforts of LMUD to control costs where we can and minimize the impact of increases out of our control, such as those imposed through state and federal regulations and increased costs of materials and equipment.
The largest variable cost is the price we pay to buy power and have it delivered to our system. The past few years have seen rising wholesale power costs, with little relief in sight. As stated, we have little control over purchase power costs, so we make every effort to manage fixed costs. Examples of fixed costs include operating and maintaining the electric distribution system; metering, billing, and customer service; and general and administrative costs.
As a community-owned utility, we are dedicated to keeping costs as low as possible while providing high-quality, reliable service to our customers. The budget process helps us focus on this goal, but the effort continues year-round.
As always, we encourage you to attend our monthly board meetings at 5:30 p.m. on the 4th Tuesday of the month in the LMUD boardroom at 65 South Roop Street. You can also view our agendas and minutes at the LMUD's website.
Robby Hamlin
General Manager