January 2010 Rate Increase Information

As of January 1, 2010, Benton PUD customers will see a rate increase on your monthly bill.  Residential customers’ rates increased 4.6 percent which impacts an average bill of $90 by $4.14 a month.  The cost per kWh increased to $.0605 from $.0578 and the base charge increased to $9.20 from $8.80.  A year ago, customers' January bill also had a temporary rate credit which expired last May.

The rate increase follows five consecutive rate decreases.  The last increase Benton PUD customers received was in July of 2003. The primary driver for the increase was the increase in overall power costs. 

Usage in December will be billed at the old rate and in January at the new rate, and will be based on average usage per day.  To determine average usage per day, the total energy used for the month will be divided by the number of days in the billing period.  For example, if a customer uses 1200 kWh in a 30 day billing period, the average per day is 40 kWh.  The customer will be billed the average per day at the old rate from the December read date to January 1 and then the new rate from January 1 to the January read date for both the base rate and the energy charge.

Cold weather and holidays add up to more power usage.   November and December were colder than last year and statistics show an overall increase in power was used by our customers.  The colder temperatures in addition to shorter winter days and extra people home around the holidays means your home is getting more use. More lights, more hot water and more heat all add up on the monthly power bill. 

In fact, December was colder than normal, averaging 24.7 degrees or 7.1 degrees below normal and slightly colder than last year.  It was the fifth coldest December since 1944.

Click here to find out what can change your monthly use of electricity