PSO Lowers Fuel Charge Again

NewsOn6.com

TULSA, OK -- For the fifth time in the past seven months, PSO is reducing its charge to customers for the cost of fuel used to generate electricity.

According to a news release from the utility company, the June reduction in the fuel cost adjustment is largely the result of continued lower prices for natural gas and will help to mitigate and, in some cases, totally offset, the company's annual return to on-peak prices, which also takes effect in June.

PSO, a subsidiary of AEP, usually adjusts the fuel cost portion of customer bills once per year in June, unless fuel costs change dramatically during the course of the year, as they have over the past seven months. When that happens, an adjustment to fuel factors is made.

"The higher on-peak rates are intended to encourage more efficient use of our plant and fuel resources during the summer," said Bobby Mouser, PSO's director of Customer Services and Marketing. "However, this year, customers will see less of an increase with the return to on-peak prices because they're being accompanied by another reduction in the company's fuel charge."

For the average residential customer the net result of the changes will be an increase in the bill from $70.64 to $77.22, or $6.58 per month.

"Without the fuel reduction, the change to summer, on-peak rates would result in an $8.90 increase in bills, as compared to the lower off-peak rates," added Mouser.

PSO has about 527,000 customers in eastern and southwestern Oklahoma.