Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Comparison of Electric Bills Under New Rates

The 7% system-average rate increase approved for Austin Energy will take effect with October 2012 electric bills.

An important change is that the higher costs of meeting hot weather electricity demand will be charged during four months (June-September) instead of the current six. This means customers will pay lower non-summer rates during 8 months of the year.

The charts below show the total dollar electric bill increase a customer could expect at the various levels of electricity usage during summer and non-summer months.

More than 80% of Austin Energy customer monthly bills during summer months (June, July, August and September) are for less than 2,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electric use. More than 85% of customer bills during non-summer months are for less than 1,000 kWh per month. Therefore, the total electric bill increase during summer for the majority of customers will be $49 or less per month. During the 8 non-summer months -- the majority of customers will see an increase of between $2 and $5 per month. 

Summer Electric Bills – 4 months under new rate schedule

kWh
Current Summer Bill
New Rates Summer Bill
Summer Monthly Bill Dollar Difference
Summer Percentage Increase
250
$24
$30
$6
26%
500
$43
$51
$8
20%
1000
$100
$115
$15
15%
1500
$158
$185
$27
17%
2000
$216
$265
$49
23%
2500
$274
$344
$70
26%
3000
$332
$426
$94
28%
3500
$390
$507
$117
30%
4000
$448
$589
$141
32%
5000
$564
$752
$188
33%

Non-Summer Electric Bills – 8 months under new rate schedule

kWh
Current Winter Bill
New Rates
Non-Summer Bill
Non-Summer Monthly Bill Dollar Difference
Non-Summer Percentage Increase
250
$24
$27
$2
10%
500
$43
$43
$1
2%
1000
$91
$96
$5
5%
1500
$140
$156
$16
11%
2000
$189
$223
$34
18%
2500
$238
$289
$51
22%
3000
$287
$362
$75
26%
3500
$336
$434
$98
29%
4000
$385
$507
$122
32%
5000
$483
$652
$169
35%

Visit www.rates.austinenergy.com and use the Residential Rate Calculator to see bill comparisons using your actual bills. Simply type in the month and kilowatt-hours (kWh) of usage from a recent electric bill and see a comparison between that recent bill and that same bill under the new rates. The Rate Calculator will not include sales tax since that varies depending on whether the customer lives in Austin, an adjoining community or unincorporated portions of Travis County.