Pennsylvania Power & Light Co. customers will see their electricity bills decrease slightly starting April 1 if a request filed Friday (3/1) with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission is approved.
The overall reduction would be about $11 million annually. It would result in a decrease of 5 cents per month on the electricity bill of a residential customer who uses 500 kilowatt-hours a month.
The lower rates would result from proposed changes to three items on customers' bills. One of the three changes is covered in PP&L's Friday filing. A second proposed change was filed Jan. 31. The third change will be filed later in March.
The company has proposed a $42 million decrease in the Energy Cost Rate portion of customers' bills. The ECR accounts for changes in fuel costs, power purchases from non-utility generators and other utilities, and power sales to other utilities.
"We are able to decrease the Energy Cost Rate because of lower fossil fuel costs and better-than-expected performance from our power plants, especially the Susquehanna nuclear power plant," said Paul E. Russell, PP&L's associate general counsel.
Russell explained that electric utilities in Pennsylvania are required to file ECR changes each year, with an effective date of April 1.
In January, PP&L proposed a change to the Special Base Rate Credit Adjustment item on customers' bills. That change would result in an increase of $22 million because a credit to customers related to a change in PP&L's inventory practices has expired.
Later this month, PP&L will file the third change: an increase in the State Tax Adjustment Surcharge item on customers' bills. The increase, projected to be about $9 million, results from the expiration of a credit to customers related to certain state business taxes.
Taken together, the three changes would result in a total decrease of $11 million on customers' bills.
If the PUC approves PP&L's requests, the bill of a residential customer using 500 kilowatt-hours of electricity a month would decrease from $47.60 to $47.55.
Because of the way PP&L applies each of the three items on customers' bills, the effect of the proposed changes will vary somewhat for business customers.