The Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) has approved revised generation rates (Docket No. 11-02-01) to take effect July 1 for residential and business customers taking standard service generation from Connecticut Light and Power (dba Eversource Energy) and United Illuminating (UI).
Eversource's residential generation rate will decrease from 9.555 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) to 6.606 cents/kWh. UI's residential generation rate will decrease from 10.7358 cents/kWh to 8.0224 cents/kWh.
The generation rate – which recovers the cost to generate electricity – comprises roughly 40 percent of the monthly electric bill for most residential users.
The new rates have been authorized through the end of 2016 – and will represent about a 20 percent reduction when compared to the Eversource summer cycle rates in effect from July 2015 through December 2015. For UI, rates will decrease by 12 percent compared to the 2015 summer cycle.
Eversource and UI recently submitted proposed summer cycle rates based on competitive auctions held earlier this year to procure the electricity needed to meet forecasted load. The bid process, underlying calculations and resulting rates were analyzed and verified by PURA technical staff, and approved May 4 by PURA's commissioners at a public hearing.
Other delivery charges were adjusted by the PURA earlier this year, including distribution and public benefit charges. Delivery costs also include transmission charges, which are set by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).
Approximately two-thirds of Connecticut’s residential customers receive standard service generation from Eversource and UI. The remaining residential customers have chosen to receive their electricity from competitive, licensed electric suppliers, whose rates may be more or less than the standard service, depending upon contract terms and the energy source.
