SRP’s Board of Directors Monday approved increasing the amount and extending a six-month temporary decrease in electricity prices passed earlier this year for Salt River Project customers.
Under the six-month extension recommended by SRP management, prices will be reduced by an additional $24.2 million – or approximately 2.3 percent – effective with the November 2018-through-April 2019 billing cycles.
SRP’s Board in March approved an $18.8 million temporary decrease in the Fuel and Purchased Power Adjustment Mechanism (FPPAM) that is scheduled to end with the October 2018 billing cycle. The newly approved price reduction extends the decrease by an additional six months and will save the typical SRP residential electric customer an average of about $1.60 per month.
The FPPAM, a component of overall prices, recovers fuel costs incurred to generate electricity as well as power purchases to serve customer needs.
According to General Manager and CEO Mike Hummel, the temporary decrease is possible because the cost of natural gas, a primary fuel in power plants, continues to trend lower. That gives SRP the opportunity to pass the savings directly to its customers, he said.
SRP is a community-based, not-for-profit public power utility and the largest provider of electricity in the greater Phoenix metropolitan area, serving more than 1 million customers. SRP also is the metropolitan area’s largest supplier of water, delivering about 800,000 acre-feet annually to municipal, urban and agricultural water users.
