January Rate Adjustments Approved – Energy Charge set at 10.56 cents/kWh
New Hampshire regulators today issued a series of orders that collectively will result in a monthly bill increase of about six percent for an average PSNH residential customer.
The New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission ordered PSNH’s Energy Service Charge to be set at 10.56 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh), compared to the current 9.87 cents/kWh, beginning January 1st. The energy charge is adjusted annually, based on the company’s actual cost of producing or purchasing the energy it needs to serve its customers.
A main cause of the current energy charge adjustment is the increase in the cost of fuel and energy needed to meet overall customer demand. The adjustment also anticipates a number of customers currently served by independent energy suppliers returning to PSNH during periods of high market prices in order to save money.
All PSNH customers have the option of purchasing energy from an independent energy supplier, instead of from PSNH. A listing of registered suppliers is available on the NHPUC website.
The commission today also approved a change in PSNH’s Stranded Cost Recovery Charge, due primarily to the expiration of a one-time refund which, over the last six months, returned to customers PSNH’s portion of decommissioning cost refunds associated with several retired nuclear power plants.
| PSNH Monthly Bill ChangesExamples for a Residential Customer | ||
| Energy Consumption kWh/month | Current | Jan. 1, 2015 |
| 500 | $91.68 | $97.16 |
| 600 | $107.54 | $114.09 |
| 700 | $123.40 | $131.02 |