The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission today (3/28) approved or accepted changes to three components of Pennsylvania Power & Light Co. electricity bills that result in an overall decrease of about $11 million annually.
For a PP&L residential customer who uses 500 kilowatt-hours of electricity, the effect of the three changes is a decrease of 5 cents a month, or one-tenth of 1 percent, on their bill. The bill for that customer would decrease from $47.60 to $47.55.
The overall $11 million decrease is the net result of these changes: a $42 million decrease in the Energy Cost Rate portion of the bill, which is partially offset by $31 million in increases resulting from the expiration of two credits PP&L had given to customers.
The ECR accounts for changes in fuel costs, power purchases from non-utility generators and other utilities, and power sales to other utilities.
Lower costs for fossil fuels and good performance by PP&L power plants, especially the Susquehanna nuclear power plant, enabled PP&L to pass savings on to customers through a lower ECR.
Electric utilities in Pennsylvania adjust the ECR once a year, subject to PUC approval. The PUC also holds a hearing every year to review each electric utility's application of the ECR.
The net decrease reflects PP&L's commitment to keep the price it charges for electric service as low as possible. Because of the way PP&L applies the three components on customers' bills, however, the effect of the changes varies depending on the type of customer and electricity use.
The bill of a commercial customer who uses 1,500 kilowatt- hours and has a peak demand of 12 kilowatts will increase by 29 cents a month, from $177.21 to $177.50.
The bill of an industrial customer with 12,000-volt service who uses 400,000 kilowatt-hours and has a peak demand of 1,000 kilowatts will decrease from $28,225 to $28,069 a month.
The bill of an industrial customer with 69,000-volt service who uses 5 million kilowatt-hours and has a peak demand of 10,000 kilowatts will decrease from $293,738 to $291,177 a month.
PP&L serves 1.2 million customers in 29 counties of eastern and central Pennsylvania.