Paducah Power Lowers Power Cost Adjustment

Paducah Power System has announced a decrease in the utility’s Power Cost Adjustment, which means lower utility bills for its customers.

According to a press release, the PCA will drop from 1.273 cents per kilowatt hour to just under a penny. The new rate will take effect July 1. The PPS Board of Directors made the decision at their meeting Monday, as part of the approved budget for the new fiscal year. Residential customers will pay a PCA of .997 cents, resulting in a total kilowatt hour rate of 12.15 cents for residential customers. The reduction will return about $1.5 million to PPS customers.

The PCA, which affects residential and commercial accounts, is a billing practice used by utilities to collect enough revenue to cover wholesale power costs without changing their base rates every month. Since February 2014, the PPS Board and management have dropped the PCA 72%, lowering the monthly bill for the average residential customer 16%.

“This is the fourth time we have lowered the PCA since February 2014,” said PPS Board Chair Hardy Roberts. “That’s due to a lot of hard work to find millions in savings and new revenue, and it demonstrates to this community our continued commitment to rate relief.”

PPS General Manager Gary Zheng said, “Every decrease results in savings for our customers and can mean significant savings for our larger customers. This is one more positive result from the work we do every day to eliminate the PCA.”

The new budget projects $47,574,328 in power costs for the coming year. The utility’s base rates are expected to cover $42,015,917 of that, leaving the PCA to cover the remaining $5,558,321.