ABBEVILLE, La. (KLFY) -- Abbeville residents and businesses will have a new electricity provider with LEPA, known as Louisiana Energy and Power Authority, starting June 1. 

Councilman Brady Broussard, Jr. of District C said Abbeville has been with their existing provider, Constellation, for ten years now. For the first time ever, the council had to look for a new electricity provider. They voted unanimously last month in their last December council meeting to switch to LEPA. 

“We began this process a year ago, so we have looked at several companies [to] come up with the decision that the best price for the citizens and the businesses of Abbeville is LEPA, located in Lafayette,” said Broussard. 

He said they were happy with the price given to them as it was the best price compared to all other proposals that were delivered to Abbeville.

“This proposal is very close to our existing price. We can't guarantee that it's going to be a lower price, but it's going to be a very close price to what we are paying, and depending on the price of fuels that produce the electricity, that price could go up. It could go down, but it's a good starting price, and we're very excited about that,” Broussard explained. 

Although there were some questions about why the switch was necessary from residents Broussard clarified why the city chose to switch.

“Well, it's very simple: our existing supplier of electricity could not extend the contract at that price," Broussard said. "Their price was going up. It was going to go up more than what we found from LEPA. That's why the change is occurring.” 

The city of Abbeville has its own electrical distribution system. Broussard said by having their own substations and their own lines, they can typically buy electricity a little cheaper than communities that don't have their own electrical infrastructure.

However, LEPA is not new to the Abbeville community. General Manager of LEPA Kevin Bihm explained that Abbeville and LEPA have worked together in the past.

“Abbeville has been a member since the early eighties, and they've also been a full requirements customer from 1989 to 2005," Bihm mentioned. "So, this is not the first time they've received wholesale power or wholesale electricity from LEPA,”

He adds they're also project participants. In other words, LEPA will construct a generating unit or be a part owner in a generating unit, and certain of our members will decide that they want to be an off-taker of that facility.  

Bihm tells News 10 that Mayor Roslyn White is on the LEPA board of directors for Abbeville, and Councilman Broussard is an alternate. 

“They know the makeup of LEPA. Actually, I take my direction from the board of directors, which is made up of our 19 cities. So there's a representative from each city that sits on our board. That's the way the organization was created, and I think it works really well,” said Bihm.

News 10 asked how LEPA was able to keep its prices lower than competitors.

“I think it boils down to a mix of resources. Obviously, we have some generations that we own which have different fuel types, some coal, some natural gas, some hydro, and I think when you mix all of those together, you're able to leverage certain generations and even the market against whatever was most economical at the time,” said Bihm. “We're excited to have Abbeville back as a full requirements customer. They join nine other LEPA cities that are taking wholesale power from us today, and because LEPA is a nonprofit, unlike the IOUs in the state and the co-ops, we're not in it to make a profit. So, with Abbeville coming in, it lowers everybody's costs that receive power from it. So it's a win-win. It's a win for Abbeville. It's a win for all of the other cities as well. So we're very excited about it.”

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