The Public Service Commission on Tuesday approved a utility rate cut that will trim a typical Georgia Power residential customer’s bill by 64 cents a month, or $7.68 per year.
The new rate will begin June 1. Georgia Power proposed the cut -- totaling $43 million annually -- because its costs for fueling its electric-generating plants dropped.
“Fortunately, in the last year we have been blessed with I think unprecedented lower fuel costs,” commission Chairman Stan Wise said moments before his panel voted 4-1 for the rate drop.
The cut is a notable departure for Georgia Power, which has raised fuel charges at least yearly for more than a decade. Rising fuel charges have been the single biggest driver behind the increases in Georgia Power's electric bills in recent years.
This year, the typical residential customer's Georgia Power bill jumped an average of more than $14 per month -- or about $175 per year -- thanks to regulator-approved increases that kicked in Jan. 1.
The current charge, approved more than a year ago, assumed higher natural gas costs than what materialized: New supplies of natural gas in shale rock, along with recession-depressed industrial demand, drove natural gas costs lower than the company predicted when it set the charge.
The fuel charge is intended to be a pass-through, with the company earning no profit on it. Collections from customers are supposed to roughly match what Georgia Power spends to buy coal, natural gas and nuclear fuel for its plants.
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