Lakeland Electric Issues an Emergency Fuel Rate Adjustment

The Lakeland City Commission voted yesterday to lower the electric fuel charge for Lakeland Electric customers for May and June. After giving a presentation Monday, April 6, at the Utility Committee meeting, staff recommended an emergency fuel rate adjustment to provide emergency relief to customers in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. The fuel charge will be lowered by $7.00 from $27.00 per 1000 kWh to $20.00 per 1000 kWh for May and June. This emergency fuel rate is expected to be restored to its normal rate in July.

The fuel charge will change to 2¢ per kilowatt-hour (kWh). Multiplying the fuel charge by 1,000 kWh, the amount an average residential home utilizes in a month, the cost equals $20.00 per 1,000 kWh for fuel.

Lakeland Electric is accelerating the under-recovery of the fuel reserve to provide emergency relief for customers. This 26% emergency fuel rate decrease is in addition to the 17.5% fuel rate decrease that began April 1. Lakeland Electric will return to the Utility Committee in June for its regularly scheduled fuel rate update. The utility expects to propose restoring the fuel rate to approximately the April fuel rate for the next quarter (July/August/September.) The April fuel rate of $27.00 per 1000 kWh was Lakeland Electric’s lowest fuel rate in 19 years.

As with most electric utilities that generate their own power, the cost of fuel is passed directly to customers. This makes the fuel charge an important part of Lakeland Electric’s ongoing effort to keep our customer’s electric costs low.