Ashburnham electricity rates are changing: Here's what it means for your bill

Many Ashburnham municipal light customers can expect to pay less for their electricity bill starting Sunday, Sept. 1.

The Ashburnham Municipal Light Plant (AMLP) conducts a cost-of-service study every five years. Based on the information collected from the most recent study, they have determined that three changes to the electricity rate will affect all four customer types they service. The current AMLP electricity rate per kilowatt-hour is 0.1766.

Brooke Czasnowski, AMLP general manager, said over 90% of customers are in the residential rate class and many of these customers will see a small decrease in their electric bill. She said that a customer who uses 750 kWh monthly will see an 8.8% decrease, which is about $13.68 less per month

"The AMLP remains committed to our customers," she said. "As a local nonprofit, we are dedicated to ensuring our customers receive reliable power, affordable rates and excellent customer service."

The department has created a rate calculator on its website for customers to see their new rate before the changes take effect on Sept. 1. Czasnowski said the calculator is to help customers understand the changes before they get their first bill. The calculator also compares the AMLP rate to three other providers – Eversource, Unitil and National Grid.

Czasnowski said a computer will be set up in the AMLP office at 24 Williams Road in Ashburnham for anyone who wants to use the online rate calculator and has further questions on the changes. Office hours are Monday to Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

So what are the changes?

The department plans to unbundle the following rates – customer charge, distribution charge, and purchased power charge. Czasnowski said separating those three rates into individual rates will make it simpler for customers to understand what they are paying for.

"After performing a Cost of Service Study to evaluate our current rates and rate structure, it was determined that it would be beneficial to unbundle the rates to provide customers with additional clarity on the charges on their bill," she said. "An example is the National Grid bill. Their bills are broken out into many different charges."

The next change is increasing the customer charge from $5 to $10. Czasnowski said the customer charge will allow AMLP to distribute the fixed costs of operating and maintaining the distribution system more equitably, and increasing the customer charge has allowed a small reduction to the rate per kWh.

The purchased power adjustment charge (PPAC) will be reset to $0.00 per kWh. The PPAC changes based on the cost of power. Czasnowski said the PPAC can be adjusted if needed, and on Sept. 1, it will be set to $0.00 per kWh, and customers will be charged 10 cents per kWh for power used. The 10 cents per kWh rate for a residential consumer is unchanged.

This article originally appeared on Gardner News: Ashburnham electricity rates are changing: Here's what it means for your bill