After the Tennessee Valley Authority’s announcement last week, Western officials may be wishing students could revert to reading by candlelight.

Western will spend nearly $1 million more than expected in electricity bills this year due to the TVA’s 20 percent rate increase.

The facilities management department projected that the change will raise the university’s electric bill by $60,000 to $80,000 a month when it goes into effect Oct. 1. Costs will increase by about $952,000 for the current fiscal year, said Dale Dyer, facilities operations manager.

“We’d like to be wrong in a good way,” Dyer said of the estimate. “It’s a rather ominous number.”

The university expected electrical rates to increase when budgeting and devoted some of last year’s tuition increase to offset costs, President Gary Ransdell said.

“We did budget for some increase, but we by no means were expecting an increase as high as what will go into effect Oct. 1,” said John Osborne, vice president for campus services and facilities.

Conservation education is the strategy the university will use to cut down on energy costs, Dyer said. The first step will be informing the campus community of the need to develop sustainable habits.

“Basically, we need to take some conservation steps immediately,” he said. “Our 19,000 plus students need to help keep our energy use under control.”

The university is also trying to create efficiencies to prepare for future rate increases.

While students may feel the impact of the increase, campus project managers do not anticipate project changes or delays as a result.

Dan Chaney, a capital construction project manager, said that while the rate change may increase overall construction costs, he does not foresee it interfering with project timelines or goals.

Current capital construction projects include renovating several science buildings and upgrading the steam plant air quality system.

Natasha Smith, renovation senior project manager, also said her department did not expect to be directly impacted by the increase.

Nation-wide fuel cost increases are the TVA’s main reason for the increase.

Seventeen percent of the increase will go to off-set the particularly high costs of coal and natural gas, TVA Spokesperson Jim Allen said.

Three percent of the rate increase will be used to fund capital improvements and an energy efficiency initiative geared toward educating customers on energy saving practices.

Lasting drought conditions also contributed to the need for a rate increase.

The TVA could only produce about half as much hydropower this year as it would in an average year, Allen said.

“We’ve had to replace our cheapest source of energy generation with our most expensive force – purchasing power off the market,” he said.

Reach Mandy Simpson at news@chherald.com.