By: Scott Kraus|
Residential customers who purchase power directly from PPL Electric Utilities rather than shopping for a competitive supplier, will see a 17 percent decrease in the portion of their bill that reflects generation costs in December.
The generation rate for residential customers will be reset to 7.878 cents per kilowatt hour, down from the current rate of 9.493 cents. Small business customers will see their rate drop to 7.731 cents, down from the current 8.982 cents, a 14 percent savings.
By comparison, the lowest no-monthly-fee price being offered residential customers by a competitive supplier in PPL’s territory is 6.04 cents per kilowatt hour by Town Square Energy and Oasis Energy, according to the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission’s PAPowerswitch electricity shopping page.
The price decline is a result of lower wholesale power prices driven by demand and the falling cost of fuels such as natural gas that are used to generate power, said spokesman Kurt Blumenau.
Both PPL rates will be effective through May 2015.
By law, PPL Electric Utilities must the pass its cost of power along to customers without a markup. PPL charges customers for distribution and system maintenance costs on other lines of the electricity bill.
PPL Electric Utilities provides electric delivery service to more than 1.4 million homes and businesses in Pennsylvania. Large industrial customers’ rates are based on hourly market prices.
