Four separate authorities raised what El Paso households pay — inside a single year.

In short

El Paso households absorbed rate increases from four separate authorities inside a single year: El Paso Water added $9.99 a month in March 2026, El Paso Electric roughly $13 in May, Texas Gas Service raised rates in the same window, and Council adopted a property tax increase worth about $105 a year. That lands on a workforce earning about $961 a week against $1,394 nationally, in a territory where the average electric bill swings from roughly $72 in winter to about $140 in the hottest months — arriving in July and August, on the households least able to cut usage. The City cannot set EPE's rates; the Public Utility Commission does. The tool that moves money is formal intervention — filing as a party, funding experts, contesting what the utility may collect. It has a record: return on equity pushed from a requested 10.7 percent to 9.4, and a $20.8 million-a-year distribution charge rejected outright. This plan makes that intervention a permanently funded standing practice — every rider, every tariff amendment, every large-load proceeding, and a return to the federal docket the City has not appeared in since 2021.