Dive Brief:
- Integrys Energy Services has announced it will replace its "confusing" current rate plan with a new stepped plan for Chicago customers of the retail electricity provider.
- Currently, Integrys charges single-household customers a $22.36 flat fee and multi-household customers a $9.06 flat fee to cover the cost of generation and demand-side management -- on top of the price of electricity at $0.0529 per kilowatt-hour.
- The new rates will more "fairly allocate" the extra fees depending on the customer's electricity usage for the past year. Single family homes will pay $19.99 to $29.99 per month depending on consumption, while multi-family homes will pay $3.99 to $22.36 a month.
Dive Insight:
Integrys originally decided to charge single family homes more because they use more electricity than multi-occupancy buildings. Under the new plan, about 60% of customers should see their bills fall while 30% see them rise.
One thing to note is that Integrys will now charge the highest flat rate to the least energy-consuming homes. The rationale behind this is those are vacant homes. The second-least energy-consuming tier is an indicator of an occupied low energy-consuming home and it is these people who will get the lowest flat rate.