PUC Denies BEL Proposal to Eliminate $10 Service Charge

The Public Utilities Commission has issued its initial decision on BEL's Annual Review Proceedings.

The biggest news is that BEL's proposal to eliminate the monthly $10 service charge has been denied! Instead the PUC has decided that the service charge be cut to $5. And to offset that, the PUC proposes that the kilowatt-hour charges for those residential customers remain fixed; BEL had proposed to increase those by an average of 3 cents per kilowatt-hour.

The PUC has also proposed that the rates for commercial customers stay virtually the same, while had proposed a one cent increase.

BEL has 10 days to review the initial decision. If they challenge it, an independent arbitrator will be hired to make a ruling.