TORRINGTON – The City of Torrington was blindsided this summer by a massive, unexplained spike in the cost of transmitting electricity to the community — one city officials say they had no advance warning of, and still cannot explain.
Mayor Herb Doby said rates have not been increased on consumers at this time. Here is how the situation has unfolded so far.
April 1, 2026: A regional grid change
The Southwest Power Pool's Regional Transmission Organization expanded into the Western Interconnection at midnight Central Daylight Time on April 1, 2026, according to the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) and the Southwest Power Pool (SPP). The expansion marked a broader shift in how electricity is managed across the region, separate from the cost increase Torrington would later discover.
July 29, 2026: The bill arrives
Clerk/Treasurer Lynette Strecker received the city's June transmission bill on July 29, 2026, and alerted Doby. According to the city's FAQ, the bill showed the transmission portion of Torrington's wholesale power bill had risen 189% compared to June 2025 — an increase officials estimate will cost the city approximately $800,000 annually. The city said the increase was neither anticipated nor previously announced.
Strecker typically receives the transmission bill closer to the middle of the month, Doby said; the only other time this year the bill arrived near the end of the month was in May.
July 31, 2026: A meeting, then an email campaign
Strecker, Doby and Electrical Supervisor Scott Sides met on July 31 to discuss the bill. Afterward, Strecker began emailing the city's wholesale power provider, the Municipal Energy Agency of Nebraska (MEAN), seeking an explanation for the increase.
MEAN responded to Strecker's inquiry by email on Aug. 6, Doby said, but did not provide an explanation for the increase.
Aug. 19-20, 2026: A trip to Kearney
Sides traveled to Kearney, Nebraska, for MEAN's quarterly meeting Aug. 19-20. There, he spoke with Bruce Doll, NMPP Energy's director of utility services and member relations, and Jason Rosenkranz, MEAN's director of wholesale electric operations, and secured their agreement to travel to Torrington for a public work session on the issue.
Aug. 28, 2026: Council is briefed
Strecker sent the mayor and City Council a summary of the situation on Aug. 28, along with a request to confirm their availability for a public work session set for Sept. 10. All council members confirmed they could attend, Doby said.
Sept. 10, 2026: A public work session
The city held its public work session on the issue at 3 p.m. Sept. 10 in the Conestoga Room. Doll and Rosenkranz made the roughly six-hour drive from Lincoln, Nebraska, to attend. Despite the trip, the MEAN representatives were still not able to tell the city why the transmission costs had increased, according to Doby.
Sept. 16, 2026: The city goes public
The city issued a press release announcing the increase. In the release, the city said it was working with MEAN to determine the cause. “We are reviewing all available information to see what options the city may have moving forward,” the release states.
Sept. 17, 2026: A follow-up FAQ
The press release drew a significant amount of public comment on Facebook. The city followed up the next day, Sept. 17, with a written FAQ document addressing common questions about the increase.
Where things stand now
The city's FAQ states that no rate increase has taken effect. “The increase in costs that the City of Torrington Electric Utility experienced have not yet resulted in a rate increase for our customers,” the FAQ states, though it goes on to say the size of the increase “makes it likely that a future rate increase will be necessary.”
Doby confirmed in a phone interview that no rate increase has been enacted so far. Current electric rates stand at 11 cents per kilowatt hour in the summer and 9 cents per kilowatt hour in the winter, Doby said. Summer rates run from June 1 to Oct. 1, and winter rates run from Oct. 1 to June 1. Any change to those rates would require a public hearing and a council vote before taking effect, and any future increase would also need to be researched, planned and approved by the Wyoming Public Service Commission.
The city emphasized that the 189% figure applies only to transmission costs, which make up just a portion of a customer's total electric bill, and said Torrington has “consistently maintained one of the lowest electric utility costs in the area.” Doby said Lingle, Fort Laramie, Wheatland, Lusk and Guernsey all have higher electric rates than Torrington. The FAQ also points customers to the Wyoming Public Service Commission's utility rate comparison tool, available at psc.wyo.gov/home/utility-rate-comparison, for those who want to compare local electric costs. Doby said Torrington was not hit as hard as some of MEAN's other participating communities by the increase, but harder than others.
Doby said the city still does not know what caused the increase and was not told in advance that transmission fees would rise so sharply. The city's FAQ states that the mayor, City Council and city staff are working to understand the cause of the increase, negotiate with the utility's providers, and prepare a response. “While the unknown is frustrating for everyone, we are hopeful for quick progress on a challenging issue,” the FAQ states, encouraging residents with questions or concerns to reach out to the mayor or their City Council representatives.
