Cape Light Compact announces new electricity rates

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Cape Light Compact (CLC) recently announced new electricity supply prices for residential, commercial, and industrial customers, effective with meter read dates January 2013 through July 2013.

The new basic electric price for residential customers is 7.672 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh), an increase of .98 cent, or 14 percent, from the previous six-month rate of 6.688 cents per kWh, according to a winter 2012-13 newsletter emailed by CLC to The Times.

The new rate is lower, however, than last winter’s residential electric price for January 2012 through July 2013, which was 7.899 cents per kWh.

As the CLC newsletter explains, natural gas prices continue to be the primary driver of electricity prices in New England.

The two components are the fuel itself and the cost to deliver it into New England. The major price index used is one called “Henry Hub,” which is a delivery point near the Gulf of Mexico.

“Natural gas futures prices increased modestly in the second half of 2012, but continued strong supply has helped cap prices from increasing significantly at Henry Hub,” the CLC newsletter said. “More significantly, however, the cost to deliver natural gas to New England has risen significantly since the beginning of the year, primarily for delivery for the winter months.”

Although the delivery cost is putting upward pressure on electricity pricing in the short term, CLC says pricing still remains at “historically attractive levels.”

When the electrical industry was deregulated, power companies had to choose whether to be in the distribution or supply business. CLC is a public regional energy services organization created in 1997 to work with the combined buying power of the region’s 200,000 electric consumers to negotiate for low-cost electricity and other public benefits related to energy.

CLC is authorized by the 21 towns on the Cape and Martha’s Vineyard and Barnstable and Dukes counties to choose the electric supplier for their residents and businesses.