WARWICK – Electricity prices for National Grid customers in Rhode Island will fall, under rates approved Thursday by the R.I. Public Utilities Commission.
Residential customers will see rates of 6.9 cents per kilowatt-hour effective April 1, down from the present 9.5 cents. The so-called Standard Offer Service has not been so low since September 2005 when the price was 6.7 cents per kilowatt-hour, according to the PUC.
The price cut reflects a decline in the prices National Grid pays.
When other charges are included, the average residential customer using 500 kilowatt-hours a month would see his electric bill decline 16.5 percent, from $83.09 to $69.36, according to documents filed with the PUC.
Prices for most commercial and industrial customers will see rates fall by varying amounts depending on which billing category they are classified as.
National Grid provides the Standard Offer Service to Rhode Islanders who choose not to by their electricity from a separate supplier on the open market. As of the end of 2010, National Grid had 456,476 such accounts, representing about 98 percent of the all electric users. The company provides electricity in every community except Block Island.
