The typical household electric bill will drop anywhere from 50 cents to $1 next month due to lower fuel costs and higher hydroelectric power generation, the Tennessee Valley Authority announced today.
The monthly fuel rate adjustment in February will be the eighth cut in the past year for the federal utility. TVA spokesman Scott Brooks said the new rate should reduce the residential monthly bill by about a half percent from what it would be under the current rate.
The agency boosted its rates by more than 30 percent in 2008 when soaring fuel expenses and the drought pushed up the fuel cost adjustment. Since then, most of that increase has been offset by the recession-induced drop in fuel expenses and the end of the drought.