PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — Maine Public Service customers will see a change in their electricity bills after an adjustment of the company’s annual transmission rate.
The overall average retail rate change will amount to a 0.61 percent decrease in transmission rates. The change took effect July 1. The annual rate adjustment occurs each year at this time.
The transmission rate change affects all Maine Public Service customers and varies by customer classification, such as residential versus businesses of different sizes.
Lois Smith, interim general manager of MPS, said earlier this week the company strives to keep electricity rates stable for its customers.
“While transmission rates are a small portion of the total electricity bill, we are aiming to keep rates stable for customers, while also investing in energy infrastructure to further improve reliability and expand our support for economic vitality of the communities we serve,” she said.
A typical residential customer bill, including delivery and electricity supply, using 500 kilowatt-hours monthly under standard offer service will see a 33-cent decrease in the total monthly electricity bill.
A typical small commercial customer using 1,200 kwh per month will experience a decrease of about 61 cents per month.
Maine Public Service Co. serves approximately 36,000 electricity customer accounts in northern Maine.
anything helps , thanks.
Gee, that’s not enough savings to buy an ice cream cone; it reminds me of the 2 cents senior discount I get when I gas up my car. I’m willing to bet the rate decrease is directly related to all that power those Mars Hill wind mills are generating!
The power the wind mills are generating is not sold on the local market, thus, it has no effect on the local price.
Oh I was just being facetious! What really bothers me is that these windmill farms add insult to our wonderful scenery up here in Northern Maine and there is absolutely no benefit to the electricity consumer in this region, as you stated.
anything helps. might offset the rise in PI water bills a little, but then again its almost time for Time Warner to raise their rates again…
about time, but it will go up this winter like every thing else
Maine Public Service company is doing their customers no favors. If you take a look at http://www.maine.gov/mpuc/electricity/delivery_rates.shtml you will see that as of 2010, MPS has one of the highest residential rates in Maine (ignoring the rates paid on islands). The incumbent suppliers in Calais and Bangor are only a tad more expensive. Notice that Houlton Water Company has a rate less than half of MPS. Van Buren Light and Power, Kennebunk Light and Power, and Madison Electric works are all cheaper. Why is MPS so expensive when two local providers in their own footprint are cheaper?