Electric rates to drop 6%

By By Clif Knight, Hartselle Enquirer
Hartselle Utilities customers will soon get a break on their utility bills.HU approved a pass-through 6 percent electric rate reduction for its customers, effective Jan. 1, 2009.
The lower rate will be reflected in meter readings taken after Jan 1. On average, it will save the customer about $7.27 a month when compared to the same amount of power used in the preceding month’s billing cycle, according to Bob Sittason, chief financial officer.
Sittason said TVA decided to lower the cost of electric power to its distributors by the same amount when fuel costs and power demand fell below projected levels. The utility adjusts rates quarterly based on fuel costs and the price of power it buys from other suppliers when demand exceeds production capacity.
TVA’s quarterly fuel cost adjustment for the third quarter of 2008 amounted to a 17 percent increase while the base rate was raised by 3 percent. The adjustment was linked to higher costs for coal and natural gas, a decline in hydroelectric power generation due to a prolonged drought and increased demand requiring the purchases of power from other producers.
Customers who heat their homes with natural gas can expect to benefit from rates that are about 6 percent lower than what they were last winter, Sittason said.