The spike in the cost of fossil fuels this summer is being felt in electricity bills.
Coupled with an exceptionally hot, dry season that had South Fork residents running their ACs more often, bills are also higher due to the elevated prices of natural gas and oil used to make electricity for the grid.
The PSEG Long Island power supply charge was $0.13112 per kilowatt-hour in July 2022 bills, compared to $0.107677 in July 2021. That’s a 21.8 percent year-over-year increase. The rate grew to $0.131632 in August and $0.13717 in September, before there was some relief in October as the rate fell to $0.133812.
As the Russian war on Ukraine continues and with the recent announcement that OPEC+ will cut oil production, electricity prices could shoot up again in the coming months.
Other than the cost of producing electricity, PSEG Long Island also has “delivery & system charges,” which have also risen since last year.
Basic service for a residential ratepayer was 44 cents a day a year ago and is now 46 cents a day, a 4.5 percent increase.
The delivery & system charge for the first 250 kWhs per 30 days was $0.0871 per kWh in October 2021. Now, it’s $0.091, a 4.5 percent increase. For each kWh in excess of the first 250, the rate was $0.1074 on October 2022 bills, up 3.6 percent a year, a year prior. But that rate was even higher on July, August and September 2022 bills, at $0.1152.
“The increase in the Power Supply Charge for August and September 2022 as compared to the prior months is attributable to fluctuations resulting from actual costs being higher than projections used to calculate the monthly Power Supply Charge,” reads a statement from PSEG Long Island on Tuesday. “Any increase in actual costs over projected costs are recovered in subsequent months through the Power Supply Charge. The fuel prices in June and July resulted in higher than projected costs. These additional costs were then recovered in the August and September Power Supply Charge. PSEG Long Island works diligently to keep costs relatively stable.
“Unlike the cost of power, Delivery & System Charges, which is the cost to bring electricity to customers, do not fluctuate with market conditions and are set by the Long Island Power Authority in January,” the statement continues. “The Delivery & System Charges also include a daily service charge. This ‘Basic Service’ charge is simply the very minimum cost to provide a 24/7 connection to the electric system.”
