ATLANTA, Oct. 16, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Georgia Power today advised the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) of its intention to file a fuel rate reduction on November 1. If approved, the new, lower rates would begin January 1, 2013.

The company is voluntarily triggering the Interim Fuel Rider (IFR) provision, which requires the company to adjust rates if the balance of its fuel accounts is significantly over or under expected targets.

Fuel rates were reduced 19 percent on June 1 of this year. The continued drop in fuel costs is primarily driven by lower natural gas prices due to increased natural gas supplies. Other contributing factors were lower demand for electricity, resulting from the milder than normal summer weather.

The $567 million June reduction brought savings of approximately $8 or 6 percent on the total monthly bill for a typical residential customer averaging 1,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh). Working with the PSC, the company was able to implement that decrease a month earlier than scheduled to help reduce summer power bills.

The precise amount of the proposed rate decrease and expected impacts on customer bills have not yet been determined, but will be included in the November 1 filing.

Fuel rates are set separately from base rates. Georgia law prohibits the company from earning a profit on fuel, while allowing recovery of all prudently incurred fuel costs.

Under the terms of the IFR adjustment mechanism, the PSC will have 30 days to review the company's November 1 filing.

Georgia Power is the largest subsidiary of Southern Company, one of the nation's largest generators of electricity.  The company is an investor-owned, tax-paying utility with rates below the national average.  Georgia Power serves 2.4 million customers in all but four of Georgia's 159 counties. 

www.georgiapower.com

SOURCE Georgia Power