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Residential customers of either of the state’s two major electric utilities will see their monthly electric rates decrease this July.
Starting July 1, Eversource customers rates will decrease by about 4 percent, and United Illuminating customers’ rates will decrease by about 6 percent. That amounts to about $9.50 for the “typical” residential Eversource customer using 700 kWh of electricity each month, and about $9 for the typical United Illuminating residential customer, according to the Public Utility Regulatory Authority.
Because electric customers tend to use more electricity in the hot summer months, however, the actual amount of the bill may still be higher in July than in June.
The drop in generation rates appears on the supply portion of the bill.
The rates typically increase in the first half of the year and decline in the second half of the year, as part of the heating and cooling cycle, according to PURA.
Any customer who has signed on to receive power from a third-party supplier will not be affected by the change, but nearly 80 percent of Connecticut residential customers pay the standard service rate, according to PURA.
Last summer, the decline in summer generation rates was offset by an increase in the rates on the “distribution” side of the customer bill. Both Eversource and United Illuminating have applied to raise those rates again this summer, but the requests have mostly been delayed while PURA continues to review their applications.
Eversource customers will still see about a 2 percent increase to delivery rates on June 1, or less than $3 a month for the typical residential customer. That increase is largely due to charges for maintenance and operation of the transmission grid regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC.