Court documents filed in a lawsuit against Itta Bena show how the city was unable to keep up with the charges made by its electricity provider, despite making regular payments.
The lawsuit was filed by the Municipal Energy Agency of Mississippi (MEAM) last fall.
It alleges that since September 2009, Itta Bena has “failed to make full payment of amounts due and owing to MEAM” pursuant to their agreement.
MEAM, a wholesale provider of electricity, until recently sold power to Itta Bena, and Itta Bena resold the power to residents and businesses in the town.
Included in the court filings is an account balance that shows each charge, payment and running total of money owed by Itta Bena to MEAM, from September 2009 to Aug. 12, 2020.
The beginning balance was more than $211,000 and ballooned to more than $650,000 at the time the suit was filed in October 2021.
Over the years, Itta Bena made regular monthly payments to MEAM, but often the payments were insufficient to keep the unpaid balance from rising.
One of the higher payments the city made was on Sept. 24, 2015. Itta Bena paid more than $191,202.
The debt was paid down to a little more than $252,000 in 2017. From 2010 to 2019, the city would make payments of tens of thousands of dollars, often more than $100,000.
Beginning in December 2019, the payment amounts decreased. They would not exceed $76,000 until August 2020, which is the last recorded payment in the docket. It was that month when MEAM sent a letter to the city that it was in default with its payments.
In October 2020, MEAM threatened to shut off power, but intervention from Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley and a proposed deal with Entergy bought time.
The deal proposed that Entergy would take over in managing Itta Bena’s electricity service, along with a promise to upgrade the city’s power grid and pay an annual franchise fee.
Since approving the transfer, the city has taken no action to execute it.
Itta Bena residents have expressed frustration recently after experiencing a couple of blackouts and an added fuel adjustment to their electric bills.
- Contact Kevin Edwards at 662-581-7233 or kedwards@gwcommonwealth.com.
