Last July North Carolina state legislators approved sweeping changes in the state tax code. One of those changes will increase the average monthly power bill for Wake Forest Power customers by about $5 because the sales tax on retail sales of electricity will go from 3 percent to 7 percent.
The Town of Wake Forest is required to collect the sales tax and send the money to the state Department of Revenue.
The increase will be effective July 1 of this year. There will also be a new sales tax on retail sales of natural gas of 7 percent that will take effect at the same time. Also on July 1 the special rate of sales tax on power for laundries will go from the present 2.83 percent to 7 percent. The state law allows qualifying industrial customers and farmers to be exempt from paying tax on electricity.
If you want to see if you can reduce your power bill from Wake Forest Power – and the other companies like Wake Electric and Duke Power Progress Energy that serve this area – you can ask for an energy audit of your home that will help you save on energy. You can also ask about load management, which is available to some customers who use electricity for their water heaters and other appliances.
Customer Service Supervisor Andrew Brown says Wake Forest Power offers free home energy audits to qualifying customers. As a first step, go to www.wakeforestnc.gov/homeenergyaudits.aspx. If you want more information about the load management program, go to www.wakeforestnc.gov/load-management.aspx.
Brown says the town also has a list of energy saving tips that will help customers save energy and money. Find the list at www.wakeforestnc.gov/energysavings1.aspx.
You can ask Brown more questions by calling him at 919-435-9466 or emailing abrown@wakeforestnc.gov.
