sgusers4的部落格

Source: The Roanoke Times, Va.迷你倉July 26--Customers of the Craig-Botetourt Electric Cooperative will see a 5.2 percent decrease in their electricity bills, the utility announced today.A decrease in the wholesale cost of power that the cooperative purchases from larger utilities was cited as the reason for the rate reduction.Craig-Botetourt has about 7,000 members in the counties of Alleghany, Botetourt, Craig, Giles, Montgomery and Roanoke. For the most part, it serves rural areas out of the reach of Appalachian Power Co., the region's dominant utility.Even with the decrease, Craig-Botetourt customers will still pay more than those served by Appalachian.Craig-Botetourt's residential rate for 1,000 kilowatt hours, the average monthly amount for a home, is $135. Appalachian's rate was $109.80 in April, according to its website.In fact, Craig-Botetourt had the highest rates in the state in January, according to an analysis by the Virginia Attorney General's office. Because rates can fluctuate, especially with smaller utilities, it was not clear how Craig-Botetourt currently ranks.Larger utilities, with more residential and high-paying business accounts, ge文件倉erally benefit from economies of scale not available to smaller ones.For example, Craig-Botetourt has an average of 5.2 customers per mile of power line. Appalachian has 17 customers per mile. So if for some reason that mile of power line had to be replaced, the cost would be greater for Craig-Botetourt customers.And when it comes to buying electricity from larger utilities, the cooperative says it has little control over the costs.Craig-Botetourt gets about 50 percent of its power from Appalachian, 45 percent from Dominion Virginian Power and the rest from Southeastern Power Administration, a network of hydroelectric power.Shawn Hildebrand, the cooperative's general manager, she he hopes that rates will continue to drop as part of an effort to bring prices in line with other utilities.After several years of increases due to federally-mandated pollution controls, Hildebrand said, "it is good to be able to offer some relief during these trying economic times our members have faced recently."Copyright: ___ (c)2013 The Roanoke Times (Roanoke, Va.) Visit The Roanoke Times (Roanoke, Va.) at www.roanoke.com Distributed by MCT Information Services存倉