Lake Worth Beach set to reduce electric bills

City says typical user may save $6.95 a month

LAKE WORTH BEACH — Lake Worth Beach residents got some good news this week when the city announced that electric bills for all customers will be reduced starting March 1.

Commissioners voted Jan. 30 to authorize the reduction, a decision made based on lower natural gas costs associated with the production of electricity to meet the needs of the utility’s customers.

As a point of reference, the city said a typical customer using 1,000 kWh (kilowatt-hours) of electricity monthly will see a decrease of $6.95 in their bill. Customers will see the reduction in the Purchased Power Cost Adjustment (PCA) line item on their bills.

The city provided a graphic that indicates that Lake Worth Beach’s utility rates are the eighth lowest in the state out of the 37 municipal and investor owned utilities.

Utilities Director Ed Liberty said the reduced costs reflect the decrease in costs from natural gas and that saving is passed along to the customer. And there is additional money for a savings fund.

The city voted to transfer $1 million of power cost adjustment (PCA) money to the Rate Stabilization Fund, which will grow the fund to a total of $3.5 million while leaving approximately $600,000 in the PCA working capital account to accommodate short term fluctuations in wholesale energy prices.

The Rate Stabilization Fund is intended to provide a source of funds to lessen the impact to customer rates from rapid increases in wholesale energy costs.

For Lake Worth Beach, 50% to 60% of its electricity is produced by natural gas in power plants across the state, with a small percentage coming from coal.

The natural gas is transported by pipelines from sources along the southeast coast. Costs from this are included