2014 Electricity Rate Updates

The month of January is when a majority of utilities release their updated rate plans for the new year.  It has been a busy time for the Genability data team as we reviewed and updated over ten thousand rates to keep our database current, accurate and up-to-date.   There were rate increases across the board, some were dramatically high while others moderately so.

We saw the northeastern utilities raise prices significantly.  The dramatic increases were felt  primarily in Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York and were attributed to spiking gas demand and capacity issues.

NSTAR in boston saw double digit year over year increase for residential and commercial tariffs with a steep hike in demand and energy supply components. Energy charges on the default residential tariff for NSTAR has jumped over 20%. Connecticut Light & Power residents also saw their default tariff  jump double digits.

New York City residents are having a particularly tough winter.  The consumers of Con Ed who are on the default residential tariff will see a hefty January bill.  The market supply charge which is a daily charge and the dominant component in the bill has seen severe fluctuations between 6 and 30 cents so far and the upcoming bill will be significantly higher than the month before.

On the west coast, SDG&E customers saw a considerable increase as well with year over year increase of  over 20% for residential.  We also saw a significant increase in demand charges for  commercial tariffs.   The AL-TOU tariff which had a year over year double digit increase saw it coming mostly from a demand charge jump.

Not all utilities were in a inflationary mode.  Bucking the general trend, we saw a welcome reduction in rates for Detroit Edison customers with  rates decreasing around  5% year over year.  DTE  claims to have achieved that  by improvements in  managing fuel expenses and better processes.

Infrastructure upgrades, gas prices and renewable generation are some of the factors which will continue affecting rate trends.  Visit Explorer to check the latest rates for your utility.