NEW BRITAIN — State regulators approved a drop in summer electric rates starting July 1.
The rate drop is similar to what the Public Utility Regulatory Authority has approved in recent years. Rates typically increase during the period from January 1 to June 30 and decrease during the other half of the year.
According to PURA, starting July 1, Eversource‘s residential generation rate will decrease from 9.555 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) to 6.606 cents/kWh. United Iluminating‘s residential generation rate will decrease from 10.7358 cents/kWh to 8.0224 cents/kWh.
The new rates will be in effect through December 31, 2016. The rates are around a 20% reduction when compared Eversource summer rates in 2015. UI rates will decrease by 12% compared to the 2015 summer rates.
The new rate will affect two thirds of the customers who purchase Eversource and UI’s standard service rate.
Residential electric bills are split into two sections, supplier services and delivery services. Consumers have the option to reduce their bill by choosing a cheaper supplier of electricity, which may include the states largest utilities, Eversource and UI. Delivery services are set by the utilities and cannot be changed by the consumers.
A recent report by the state’s consumer council found that customers may have paid $58 million more than they needed to by contracting with companies that charged more for electrical service than the large utilities. Consumers can change their retail electrical supplier, for a full list of suppliers, click here or call 1-800-382-4586.
