NEW BRITAIN - PURA approved lower standard service rates for Eversource and United Illuminating customers Friday, that would drop rates for that part of their bill almost 20 percent.
The Public Utilities Regulatory Authority met Friday and voted on the reduction. Effective July 1, 2015, Eversource's residential generation rate will decrease from 12.629 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) to 8.228 cents/kWh. UI's residential generation rate will decrease from 13.3108 cents/kWh to 9.1241 cents/kWh.
Eversource said in a statement, "The average supply rate for Standard Service customers will decrease from the current 12.42 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) to 8.25 cents, a savings of almost 20 percent. This means an average residential customer using 700 kWh monthly will see a reduction of almost $31.00 in their monthly bill. The new rates would be in effect from July 1st through December 31."
Last year, according to PURA, the rate from July 1 to December 31, 2014, was 9.990 cents per kWh. On January 1, the rate went up to 12.42 cents per kilowatt-hour. The reduction only covers the energy customers use.
In December, PURA approved an increase in the monthly service charge which is what residential customers pay for access to and maintenance of the electric grid. PURA said an average residential customer who uses 700 kWh of electricity would see an increase of approximately $7.12 per month; a 5.5 percent increase for that portion of the bill.
The new rate will affect two thirds of the customers who purchase Eversource and UI's standard service rate.
