Columbia Transmission service rate ordinance (§ 27-121.2)
Chapter 27: Utilities · Article III. Water and Light System
In short: Customers expecting over 10 megawatts of hourly load who provide 69 kV or 161 kV infrastructure get a council-approved negotiated contract. They pay the city's actual energy cost plus a 7.5268 percent in-lieu-of-gross-receipts payment and sales tax, and pay for all requested energy, with credit for any excess resold.
Our plain-English summary, not the official text or legal advice. The ordinance below is what counts.
(a) Availability. Customers that anticipate usage that will exceed ten (10) megawatts of hourly load and that provide the infrastructure necessary to take service at either sixty-nine (69) kV or one hundred sixty-one
(161) kV will be placed on the transmission service rate set forth in this section and will be subject to a contract governing delivery of the requested power that is negotiated by the water and light director with final approval by the city council.
(b) Application. The transmission service rate shall apply to all electric service for a premises where the service is supplied at one (1) point of delivery and measured through one (1) meter.
(c) Monthly rate charge. The monthly rate per kilowatt hour shall be equal to the actual cost of such energy to the city, based on the following:
(1) Five (5) megawatt blocks of power purchased twenty-four (24) hours a day, seven (7) days a week for a minimum period agreed to by the customer and city.
(2) Best market energy price as may be available, plus any actual monthly market capacity price that is imposed by any third party energy provider offering energy for sale to the city and customer, plus (or minus) other actual market charges that may apply to transactions in the energy and operating reserve market of the Midwest Independent System Operator (MISO).
(3) Customer must pay for the full amount of all energy requested by customer even if not used, however, every effort will be made by the electric utility to sell excess energy back to the market and provide a credit to the customer.
(d) In lieu of gross receipts tax payments and sales tax. In addition to the charge based on monthly rates, the total monthly charge for service shall include applicable sales taxes and an lieu of gross receipts tax payment equal to 7.5268 percent of the monthly rate charge. Sales taxes shall be applied to the total of the monthly rate charge and the in lieu of gross receipts tax payment.
Official source: City of Columbia official Code of Ordinances (online): look up Sec. 27-121.2
Text from Supplement 139 (September 3, 2026).
Last checked November 1, 2026. The city's official copy controls; this page is a reading copy, not legal advice.