Pennsylvania Power & Light Co. Thursday (10/5) filed with the state Public Utility Commission schedules that will implement the new rates approved by the commission Sept. 27. The commission must take formal action on the rate schedules before they take effect.

If the commission approves the schedules, residential rates will increase by an average of 4.9 percent, according to Jim Marsh, PP&L's director-Corporate Communications. Actual increases for individual customers will vary by level and pattern of use.

As a result of the base rate increase and related adjustments in other charges, the bill for a residential customer using 500 kilowatt-hours a month will increase by $3.23 a month to $47.60. A customer using 1,500 kwh would now pay $122.03, an increase of $5.71 a month.

"Even with this increase, PP&L's residential rates are only about 1.6 percent higher than they were in 1985, a period in which the cost of living has increased by about 30 percent," said Marsh. "As this increase takes effect, we are recommitting ourselves to return to the base rate stability that we have achieved for the past decade."

He also noted that, in approving new rates, the commission approved a PP&L proposal to decrease rates by $90 million in 1999.

Marsh said that the commission is expected to take action on the new schedules by the end of October. The rates will begin to be reflected in customer bills a few days after that approval. Since the rates were effective the day after the PUC decision, customers will be back-billed for the period between Sept. 28 and the day the new rates are reflected on bills.

The PUC approved an overall 3.8 percent rate increase Sept. 27, PP&L's first base rate increase since 1985. Residential rates increased at a higher percentage than other rate classes because of an increase in the basic customer charge from $4.80 to $6.48 per month.

Marsh said rates for commercial customers would increase by 1.8 percent under the proposed rate schedule. Industrial rates would increase by 3.6 percent.