Residential Electricity Rates To Drop For NSTAR Customers

Published: 04-Nov-2009

NSTAR, an electric and gas utility, is proposing a price cut for its residential electric customers. The company is proposing a new rate that is 3.7% lower than current prices and 30% lower than prices one year ago.

If approved, the average NSTAR customer will be paying almost $20 less a month beginning January 1st than they did in the first half of 2009. Nearly 800,000 customers in NSTAR's service territory will benefit from these price cuts.

Tom May, chairman, president and CEO of NSTAR, said: "Between lower electricity supply prices and increased energy efficiency, customers are seeing much lower bills this year. The decline in market prices has allowed us to pass along some significant savings to our customers in recent months and in today's difficult economy this represents one of the bright spots."

Though delivery charges vary slightly by region, the basic service supply price for all residential customers will drop by 3.7%, from 9.22 cents to 8.88 cents per kilowatt-hour. Customers of the former Boston Edison using an average of 500 kilowatt-hours per month will see their total bill drop from $88.56 to $86.86.

The average 500 kilowatt-hour bill for customers of the former Cambridge Electric will fall from $77.60 to $75.90. For those in the former Commonwealth Electric territory, the average bill will decrease from $92.77 to $91.07.

The decreases can be attributed to a drop-off in prices for oil and natural gas, fuels used to generate electricity. As a regulated distribution company, NSTAR purchases electricity from suppliers and passes the cost directly to customers who are on the company's basic service supply rate. Customers who purchase electricity through aggregate buyers or directly from suppliers are not affected by this price reduction. By law, basic service prices for residential customers change twice a year, on July 1st and January 1st.