LIPA to Reduce Power Supply Charge by 4% Overall Bills to Drop 2%
Reduction Effective February 1st
LIPA to Hold Reduction Through 2007
Power Supply Charge Down 12.2% Since Jan. ’06
Uniondale, NY – January 30, 2007 – Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) Chairman Kevin Law and LIPA’s Chief Executive Officer & President, Richard M. Kessel, today announced that starting February 1st LIPA’s Power Supply Charge will be reduced by an additional 4%, which will drop overall bills by 2%.
For a typical residential customer using 775 kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity per month, the latest bill reduction will produce a monthly savings of $3.01 and total savings of $36.12 over a 12-month period. A commercial customer using 8,800 kWh per month could see a savings of about $34 per month or $408 over 12 months.
Since last January, LIPA’s Power Supply Charge has been reduced by 12.2%, resulting in a total bill reduction of 6.4%, which saves a typical residential customer $10.14 per month or $121.68 per year.
“This is a step in the right direction,” Mr. Law said. “Looking forward, LIPA needs to continue to do everything it can to lower the Power Supply Charge as much as possible as soon as possible.”
Mr. Kessel said that the reduction in LIPA’s bills, by lowering its Power Supply Charge, is made possible by recent drops in the costs for fuel and purchased power, and the prospect that these costs will remain lower going forward in 2007.
“I’m very pleased that were able to lower our bills again by reducing the Power Supply Charge,” said Mr. Kessel. “The historic increases in the cost of oil and natural gas that forced LIPA to pass along some of those increases to customers have eased up a bit. The recent reductions in those costs allow us to pass along these savings to our residential and commercial customers.”
Mr. Kessel noted that LIPA did not increase its bills last year and in fact reduced its Power Supply Charge by 8.2% during 2006. When coupled with the latest reduction, LIPA has managed to lower its Power Supply Charge by 12.2% in the last year.”
“At the very least, our goal is to maintain the bill and power supply reduction through 2007,” said Mr. Law. “If oil and gas prices continue to drop in the months ahead, we will reduce the Power Supply Charge again.”
“It’s important for customers to understand that LIPA does not control the oil and natural gas markets, especially if there is a world-wide crisis. LIPA merely passes on increases or decreases depending upon the market prices for oil and natural gas,” said Mr. Kessel.
Last year, LIPA provided its customers with a new billing statement configuration that segregated the charges for delivering electricity to customers and those for the commodity. LIPA’s Delivery & System Charges cover costs associated with operating and maintaining LIPA’s electric Transmission and Distribution System. The Power Supply Charges cover costs associated with the price of oil, natural gas and purchased power.
While LIPA is lowering its Power Supply Charge by 4%, its Delivery & System Charge, which has remained steady since May, 1998, will remain unchanged.
Customers who have any questions about their bills should call LIPA’s Customer Assistance Center at 1-800-490-0025.
LIPA’s Web site, www.lipower.org, has a wealth of information that can help customers save on their electricity costs by utilizing some easy-to-follow energy efficiency recommendations.
LIPA, a non-profit municipal electric utility, owns the retail electric Transmission and Distribution System on Long Island and provides electric service to over 1.1 million customers in Nassau and Suffolk counties and the Rockaway Peninsula in Queens. In terms of customers served, LIPA is the 3rd largest municipal electric utility in the nation
and the 6th largest in terms of electricity delivered. LIPA does not provide natural gas service or own any on-island electric generating assets.
LIPA Contact Information:
Media Relations: (516) 719-9892
Media Pager: (516) 525-LIPA
media.relations@lipower.org
LIPA News Center
http://www.lipower.org/newscenter
