LCEC reduces its electric rates – again
Beginning Jan. 1, LCEC customers saw the fourth rate decrease in two years.
LCEC’s elected Board of Trustees last month voted unanimously to reduce rates for this year, bringing rates from $114.16 per 1,000 kWh to $106.55 per 1,000 kWh.
This marks a residential rate reduction of nearly 7 percent since 2014, with customers paying less for electricity now than they did in 2008, according to LCEC.
The electric cooperative also returned $10 million in retired equity to active and inactive cooperative members.
The rate change is not a huge reduction, equating to maybe a dollar a month, as electricity costs about a dime per kWh, said LCEC spokesperson Karen Ryan.
“Electricity is already not that expensive. Compared to other things, a dollar savings is pretty big,” Ryan said.
According to the Florida Municipal Electric Association, the average investor-owned electric utility rate in Florida is $128.59 per 1,000 kWh. The average rate for the 33 municipal electric utilities in Florida is $114.41 per 1,000 kWh.
LCEC rates are well below the state average and the lowest among Florida cooperatives, the company said in a statement.
“One of our strategic goals is to be one of the lowest-priced utilities in Florida. We have been working to improve our processes, manage our costs and utilize technology,” Ryan said. “The previous decreases can also be attributed to that.”
Ryan added that the recent drop in the price of oil had little to do with the rates, as LCEC has a power supply contract with FP&L.
While FP&L customer rates remain lower, the investor-owned utility has the lowest rates in the state, with millions of customers to spread out the costs, Ryan said.
FP&L customer rates also dropped this month with an average residential customer seeing a decrease of about $2.50 per month, according to an FP&L press release.
Its rates are now below those charged in 2006 when a typical home bill for 1,000 kWh was $108.61, the release states. In 2015, that average bill was $96.72 with the 2016 bill for the same usage dropping to $94.30.
As an electric cooperative, its members, or ratepayers, “invest” in the electric system and are allocated equity annually, which reduces the need for loans or bonds. Whenever financially feasible, some of the equity is retired and returned to members/customers over the five-county services area, LCEC officials said.
Over the years, LCEC has retired and returned more than $231 million in equity, according to information supplied by the co-op.