By Dave Schleicher, NOVEC President and CEO
From all of us at NOVEC, Happy New Year! As NOVEC enters 2024, we’re announcing several changes approved by your Board of Directors that will impact residential bills. I’ll be sharing the details with you here, however, the most important detail is this: Effective immediately, the majority of our residential customers will see their bills decrease. The average customer will pay 19% less, a savings of more than $30 per month!
NOVEC is adjusting three key components of your bill: the monthly service charge (a fixed amount to recover fixed costs such as billing, metering, vehicles, etc.), the distribution charge (which varies based on how much electricity you use), and the power cost adjustment (the PCA reconciles the wholesale price NOVEC pays for electricity and is passed along to customers at cost, in accordance with Virginia law).
NOVEC is lowering the distribution charge and raising the monthly service charge to more accurately recover fixed and variable costs. The net result of this rebalancing is revenue neutral, so these changes will not generate any additional money for NOVEC. The monthly service charge will increase by $5.55 to $21.30, while the distribution charge will correspondingly decrease.
Next, let’s focus on the PCA. In 2024, our power supply team is projecting significantly lower electricity costs, and 100% of those savings go directly to you and your fellow customers. How much this affects you personally depends on how much electricity you use. The total bill reductions will be near 10% for small users and more than 20% for larger users.
I know all this is complicated, but I wanted to personally share the message; we take seriously our mission to deliver safe, reliable, and competitively priced energy.
Finally, for those high school seniors who are about to decide what they want to do after graduation, NOVEC offers various scholarships. Please visit our website to see how we might help you fulfill your potential.
Best Regards,