Roseville raises 'backbone' electric grid hook-up fees

Forced by inflation, Roseville officials recently raised the city electric "backbone" fee for new homes and businesses. The electric backbone mitigation fee paid by developers helps recoup city expenses with building and upgrading the power grid. The system includes substations and high-voltage lines essential for delivering electricity to all Roseville customers. "This is an update to the municipal code," said Roseville Electric Finance Manager Joanna Cucchi. "The backbone is the high-voltage part of Roseville's electric distribution system, including substations." The fee aims to share costs of electric infrastructure with those who join, so neither current ratepayers nor the city subsidize new development, staff explained. The backbone fee for single- and multi-family units is expected to rise by about $82 and $58 per unit. The fee increase will bring $600,000 in additional revenue over the next five years, staff said. Current Roseville upgrade projects "on the line" include the Sierra Vista substation transformer, the Vernon substation upgrade and the Creekview substaton extension of 60kz power. More than $13.5 million in overall backbone fees are yet to be collected for remaining planned development in Roseville, authorities said. The city employed EES Consulting for a comprehensive study of the existing backbone fee. The analysis considered the current capital improvement program eligible for reimbursement, as well as future Roseville development. A similar study was done in 2018, but nationwide inflation has since exploded, officials said. "The proposal for residential backbone fees represents a 16-percent increase over the current fee," staff said. "This is an increase of approximately 4 percent per year since the last backbone fee adjustment in 2020." For all commercial and industrial developments, the backbone fee is based on service panel rating, measured in kilo-volt amps, or kVA. The fee will increase by about $6 per kVA, according to the report. For example, the backbone fee for a restaurant/office building with three-phase service and a 1200-amp panel would increase by $2,000. The percentage increase for commercial developments is 6 percent per kVA, staff calculated. The backbone fee increase was approved by the Roseville Public Utilities Commission in October. The council unanimously approved the increase Nov. 20.