Residential Electric Bill
There are two charges that combined equal the total electric charges on the monthly utility invoices. Each electric service’s usage is billed based on kilowatt-hour “kWh” consumption. The first charge listed on monthly invoices is the ELECTRIC charge. The second charge is listed on the utility invoice as PPA (Purchased Power Adjustment). Electric rates charged by the BPU to our customers are approved and regulated by the New York State Public Service Commission. The last electric rate increase was in 2004.
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Electric Charge
Each and every residential electric customer is charged a Service Charge of $2.32 per month regardless of the amount of kWh used on a monthly basis. In addition, each residential electric customer is charged a set amount for each kWh of electricity used. For residential electric customers the BPU currently charges $0.0278* (2.78 cents) per kWh of electricity used in any given month. As an example, the ELECTRIC charge for a residential customer using 490 kWh of electric in a month would be as follows: Service Charge of $2.32 plus kWh charge ($0.0278 x 490kWh) of $13.622. The total ELECTRIC Charge for 490kWh of electric would be $15.942. This portion of your electric bill is used to pay for the Board of Public Utilities cost of operation. This charge pays to purchase wire, transformers, poles, vehicle purchases, fuel etc. The ELECTRIC charge also pays for all employee costs. *The Department of Public Service last approved a City of Salamanca Board of Public Utilities rate increase on 06/01/2022. |
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PPA Charge
The Purchase Power Adjustment charge fluctuates monthly. The PPA charge is the total dollar cost to purchase electricity for all Board of Public Utilities customers divided by the total kWh’s purchased by the Board of Public Utilities. The PPA charges include the cost to both purchase and transmit electric to the BPU’s electric system. Each electric customer pays a PPA charge every month. PPA charges have been on all electric utility bills since December of 1979. |
City of Salamanca BOARD OF PUBLIC UTILITIES' Notification of higher PPA rates starting with the March 2024 Billing.
This is a notice the Salamanca BPU received February 7, 2024 from our LSE.
Dear Members,
As you will be receiving your NYMPA bills for January consumption in the next few days, I just wanted to make you aware of an increase in one of the regular charges on your invoice.
As your load serving entity (LSE), NYMPA is obligated under the State of New York’s Clean Energy Standard (CES)to purchase Renewable Energy Certificates (REC’s) from NYSERDA to support the development and operation of renewable energy projects in the State (generally wind and solar). NYMPA passes these costs through to each individual system based upon your system load, and you, in turn, pass these charges on to your retail customers, either as part of your ppac, or as an individual line item on the customer invoice.
REC’s are priced in dollars per MWh. The amount of REC’s NYMPA must purchase is based on a mandated percentage of NYMPA’s total load, which is simply the cumulative total of all of the member system loads. This percentage requirement has been steadily increasing each year since 2016. In 2023, that percentage was 6.16% of total load. In 2024, the required percentage increased to 6.45% (0.0645 x total MWhs), thereby effectively increasing the number of REC’s NYMPA is obligated to purchase. We notified you of that increase last fall and built it into your 2024 system budgets.
Because historically there have not been a sufficient number of REC’s available for purchase, the CES requires NYMPA and other LSE’s to make so called “alternative compliance payments” (ACP’s) in lieu of REC’s at a price determined annually by NYSERDA. Due to the lack of available REC’s, NYMPA’s monetary obligations are typically more dependent on the ACP price than REC prices. On 12/22/23, NYSERDA announced that the ACP price for 2024 is $45.39 per MWh, up substantially from
$31.89 per MWh in 2023. This increased ACP price will be reflected in a higher charge on your January NYMPA invoices.
Should you receive inquiries from your customers, you can advise them that this is a State mandated surcharge over which neither you nor NYMPA has any control.
Jim Stokes, General Manager
NY Municipal Power Agency
This is a notice the Salamanca BPU received February 7, 2024 from our LSE.
Dear Members,
As you will be receiving your NYMPA bills for January consumption in the next few days, I just wanted to make you aware of an increase in one of the regular charges on your invoice.
As your load serving entity (LSE), NYMPA is obligated under the State of New York’s Clean Energy Standard (CES)to purchase Renewable Energy Certificates (REC’s) from NYSERDA to support the development and operation of renewable energy projects in the State (generally wind and solar). NYMPA passes these costs through to each individual system based upon your system load, and you, in turn, pass these charges on to your retail customers, either as part of your ppac, or as an individual line item on the customer invoice.
REC’s are priced in dollars per MWh. The amount of REC’s NYMPA must purchase is based on a mandated percentage of NYMPA’s total load, which is simply the cumulative total of all of the member system loads. This percentage requirement has been steadily increasing each year since 2016. In 2023, that percentage was 6.16% of total load. In 2024, the required percentage increased to 6.45% (0.0645 x total MWhs), thereby effectively increasing the number of REC’s NYMPA is obligated to purchase. We notified you of that increase last fall and built it into your 2024 system budgets.
Because historically there have not been a sufficient number of REC’s available for purchase, the CES requires NYMPA and other LSE’s to make so called “alternative compliance payments” (ACP’s) in lieu of REC’s at a price determined annually by NYSERDA. Due to the lack of available REC’s, NYMPA’s monetary obligations are typically more dependent on the ACP price than REC prices. On 12/22/23, NYSERDA announced that the ACP price for 2024 is $45.39 per MWh, up substantially from
$31.89 per MWh in 2023. This increased ACP price will be reflected in a higher charge on your January NYMPA invoices.
Should you receive inquiries from your customers, you can advise them that this is a State mandated surcharge over which neither you nor NYMPA has any control.
Jim Stokes, General Manager
NY Municipal Power Agency