HARTFORD, Conn. — Just as Eversource promised earlier this spring, its energy supply rates will be lower for the latter half of 2023.
Eversource announced Wednesday it has submitted a rate of 13.82 cents per kilowatt per hour (kWh) to the state's Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA). If approved, that rate will go into effect from July 1 through Dec. 31.
Standard service rate customers could see up to a $56 decrease in their total monthly bills, according to Eversource.
It's welcome news for customers after months of paying for expensive bills.
"It gets very expensive and it certainly got very expensive over the last year," said Lynn Rouleau of New Britain. "People are struggling," she said.
People said saving $56 per month will make a difference.
"Yes, it could go a long way to buy a lot of gas too. Could buy a lot of gas and get some stuff at the grocery store extra," said Shaym Haniff of Hartford. "I wish they could lower it more than what they have right now," he said.
Eversource's rates doubled from 12.1 cents per kilowatt-hour to 24.2 cents per kWh this past winter. Eversource cited the war in Ukraine and supply prices for the rate hike.
"We know this past winter rate was high and was a hardship for our customers and this new rate should be a significant benefit for our customers," said Stephen Sullivan, Eversource President of Electric Operations in Connecticut.
Some people, opt to use a third-party supplier, to try to save on bills.
"I shop around every year actually because I think I can get a better rate than what Eversource is offering so the last several years I’ve been shopping around," Rouleau said.
Your bill is broken down into two costs. Delivery, which is the service Eversource provides and supplies. Supply is determined by the current market price. Eversource purchases electricity for its customers.
That’s the cost that’s expected to go down this summer.
"Whatever we pay the generators it’s a pure pass-through, with no markup," Sullivan said.
The delivery, however, is expected to increase by about $16 to customers using an average of 700 kwh per month. This increase is Eversource's proposal to PURA sees the total delivery charge changing from $0.11751 cents per kilowatt-hour to $0.14107 cents per kilowatt-hour.
The company said the increase is primarily due to the expiration of a roughly $12-a-month credit on customers' bills that went into effect in January to ease the burden of high energy costs.
United Illuminating also announced a lower standard rate for its customers. UI customers are expected to save about $28 a month on their bills.
UI also hiked their electricity rates for the first half of the year from 10.6 cents per kWh to 21.9 cents per kWh.
The rates tend to drop for the summer months, according to trends seen in Eversource supply rates from 2018-2023.
However, Eversource said customers tend to use 35% more electricity in the summer, and that would be reflected on their bills.
"Your rates are coming down significantly but folks tend to use more in the summer," Sullivan said.
Gaby Molina is a reporter and anchor at FOX61 News. She can be reached at mmolina@fox61.com. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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