PSNH Default Service Rate Jumps 34%, PUC Notes Rate May "Exacerbate" Customer Migration

The New Hampshire PUC has approved a 34% increase in the energy service (default service) rate at Public Service Company of New Hampshire, effective January 1.

The new, 2013 default service rate at PSNH is 9.54 cents per kWh.

This compares to the 2012 default service rate of 7.11 cents per kWh, and the initially projected 2013 rate of 8.97 cents per kWh.

The new default service rate of 9.54 cents per kWh includes the temporary Scrubber cost recovery rate of 0.98 cents per kWh.

"[T]he fact that the proposed ES [energy service] rates are increasing by such a significant percentage impacts PSNH's energy service customers and could exacerbate customer migration," the PUC said.

"By our calculation, for a residential customer using 500 kWh per month, the energy service component of their bill would increase by $12.15 per month, from $35.55 to $47.70 -- a significant increase," the PUC said.

According to PSNH, the increase in the energy service (ES) rate calculated for 2013 is primarily due to an increase in the forecasted market price of power and an increase in the rate of customer migration from 40.0% in the initial filing to 42.5%, reflecting migration as of October 2012. In addition, PSNH forecast that ES sales would be 4% lower than the estimates forecast in the initial filing, primarily due to customer migration.