For the third time in the last three years, SRP’s Board of Directors at a March 27 meeting will be considering a decrease in electricity prices for more than 1 million Salt River Project customers.
Under the six-month temporary decrease, recommended today by SRP management, prices would be reduced by approximately 1 percent effective with the May-through-October 2018 billing cycles. Prices will return to original winter season prices approved in 2015 with the November 2018 billing cycle.
The $18.8 million temporary decrease in the Fuel and Purchased Power Adjustment Mechanism, a component of overall prices, will save the typical SRP residential customer an average of $1.56 per month during the six-month period when temperatures and electric bills are the highest of the year.
SRP General Manager and Chief Executive Officer Mark Bonsall said the temporary decrease is possible because of the cost of natural gas, a primary fuel in power plants, has trended lower. The Fuel and Purchased Power Adjustment Mechanism, or FPPAM, recovers fuel costs incurred to generate electricity as well as power purchases to serve customer needs.
“Given the current market conditions, we are passing on the cost savings directly to our customers during summer billing months for the third year in a row,” he said. “As a community-based, not-for-profit organization, our customers pay for fuel and purchased power costs without markup on their monthly bills.”
Because of their significantly lower carbon emissions than traditional coal resources, natural gas resources play an increasingly important role in SRP’s generating fleet. As an essential part of SRP meeting its sustainability, Bonsall said the flexible operations of natural gas are needed to integrate more renewable resources — such as solar and wind — to the grid while maintaining reliability.
“We make decisions in the best interest of our customers and the communities we serve,” he said. “Revenues generated through the sale of electricity are reinvested in the company to help keep SRP prices among the lowest in the Southwest.
“We offer numerous price plans to fit our customers’ lifestyle and budget, providing them with information, programs and services to help them make smart choices about water and energy use to meet their specific needs. We also offer efficiency and rebate programs to help our electric customers save energy and money.”
Among the top-ranked utilities in the nation for reliable electric service, SRP has also been ranked highest for residential electric service in the western United States among Large electric utilities for 16 consecutive years in the annual J.D. Power surveys of electric customers.
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.
