VIDALIA, La. – Discussion of utility rate increases is powering up in Vidalia.

And residents and business owners will get a chance to voice their concerns at a Board of Aldermen meeting at 6 p.m. today at Town Hall. There, the utility issue will be further addressed and the town will pass its 2000-2001 budget. It will be the first board meeting held since the increase was announced Oct. 10.

&uot;I may just go,&uot; said Elaine McCrory, referring to tonight’s meeting. While admitting that Vidalia has relatively low utility rates, she added that &uot;I wasn’t real happy when I&160;heard about (the increase). When they built the hydroelectric plant, I didn’t realize our rates would still have to go up.&uot;

The total rate for electricity, natural gas, and water and sewer service will go up by about $35 a month for the average consumer in Vidalia, mostly due to the rising cost of energy production, said Vidalia Mayor Hyram Copeland.

Others echoed McCrory, saying they believed with construction of the Louisiana Hydroelectric plant, which sells power to other suppliers, resulting revenues would offset the need for a utility rate increase in the foreseeable future.

&uot;I didn’t like it at all,&uot; said Faye King, referring to the rate increase. &uot;I thought that’s why we were getting the hydro plant, so we wouldn’t have to do this.&uot;

&uot;Everyone was told we would get a rebate when that electric plant was built,&uot; said resident Doris Talley. &uot;And we were told that the town had enough money in its coffers and reserve funds, but we wake up one day and the money’s not there.&uot;

Hydroelectric revenues and reserve money did help offset the increase, but some rate adjustments still had to be made, Copeland said.

&uot;It’s a hard decision to make … but we had no other choice,&uot;&160;Copeland said.

While the area’s Louisiana Hydroelectric plant makes power using the Mississippi River, that power is sold to other areas. Vidalia, in turn, buys its power from elsewhere — and much of it is made using increasingly expensive natural gas, according to Copeland.

And he said at the Oct. 10 meeting that if the town did not raise rates, it would face an estimated $970,000 deficit next year, mainly due to the rising cost of natural gas.

Minimum rates for natural gas will rise $4 per month; electricity, $1.76 a month for businesses and $1.68 for homes; and water and sewer service, $6.67 a month. Sanitation rates will go up $1 a month for residential customers and 15 percent for businesses.

Vidalia last increased rates in 1997, when the minimum monthly water rate went up more than $3. Electric rates went up 8 percent in 1987, and sanitation rates went up almost $5 in 1993.

&uot;At first, there was a bunch of talk about this,&uot; said Jesse Ramirez, who pays up to about $100 a month for utility service. &uot;But we decided we couldn’t do anything about it — it was already done.&uot;

&uot;We’ll get our bills around the 20th of (November),&uot; King said. &uot;Ask us our opinion then.&uot;