Starting in October, the cost to keep the lights on for Tennessee Valley Authority customers in Alabama will go up after the utility’s board approved a 5.25% rate hike on Thursday.

The board said its rate competitiveness coupled with its growing infrastructure needs justified the increase.

“We recognize that people don’t pay rates, they pay bills, and that matters.  We know this is a kitchen table issue for many families across our region,” TVA President and CEO Jeff Lyash said, according to WDEF in Knoxville. ” At TVA, we don’t like price increases any more than you do, and that’s why we continually work to reduce expenses by hundreds of millions of dollars each year.”

The region is experiencing a population increase, leading to $16 billion being invested in 2027 toward infrastructure, the outlet reported.

Meanwhile, the TVA’s rates are among the lowest among its competitors, according to Wade White, chairman of the board’s Rate Committee.

“We’re very mindful of our rate competitiveness, and we look at the rate of our electricity relative to our peers to make that determination,” Wade said, according to Rocket City Now. “(In 2019) we were the ninth lowest among regional peers, and we have moved to fourth. So our rates over this time period have become more competitive.”

The average TVA power bill last year was $138. The newest rate increase, which comes on the heels of a 4.5% hike in 2023, will add about $4.35 to customers’ utility bills.