RMLD Announces 9% Rate Hike For All Customers Beginning March 1

READING, MA — The Reading Municipal Light Department (RMLD) has announced that both residential and commercial customers will see their monthly energy bills increase by an average of 9 percent beginning on March 1.

RMLD, which supplies power to Reading, Wilmington, North Reading, and Lynnfield Center, said the decision on rate increases was approved by the municipal utility's Citizens' Advisory Board (CAB) and Board of Commissioners at a Wednesday night meeting.

According to RMLD, the average residential customer that uses approximately 800 kilowatt hours (kWh) per month can expect their monthly bill to increase by about $13 per month.

A letter from RMLD General Manager Gregory Phipps informing customers about the reasons for the rate increase has been posted online.

Despite the increase, Phipps said in a statement that RMLD customer bills remain approximately 75 percent to 90 percent lower than bills from investor-owned utilities in Massachusetts.

"While we recognize that any price increase presents a challenge to our customers, our active power supply management has mitigated this increase to keep it dramatically below the cost increases from investor-owned utilities," Phipps said. "We are able to wait until March, after the winter heating season when customer kWh usage is high, to slightly reduce the burden for our customers."

Phipps continued: "RMLD's diversified power portfolio helps minimize its costs while meeting policy and compliance obligations set forth by the 2021 Massachusetts Climate Bill."

In a press release, RMLD said there were multiple reasons for the rate increase.

The utility said its operating budget has increased by 16 percent in 2023 compared to 2022 due to continued infrastructure investments to support decarbonization in accordance with the 2021 climate bill.

RMLD said the rate increases will help support upgrades to the utility's local distribution system — wires, poles, transformers, etc. —to handle higher electricity loads and peak demand as customers electrify their homes and businesses in an effort to align with the climate bill goals.

Additionally, power supply costs have been volatile, and current price forecasts indicate a 2 percent increase for 2023 compared to 2022, according to RMLD. Though the company said only 15 percent of its power supply portfolio is subject to open market prices.

On its website, RMLD included billing examples to give residential and commercial customers an idea of what their bills will look like after the rate increase.

In the letter to customers, RMLD also listed several measures customers can take to lessen the impact of higher energy costs, including: conserving usage, getting a free home energy assessment, reviewing the company's rebates and incentives before buying a home appliance, and signing up for RMLD's Time-of-Use rate, which helps customers save money if the majority of their usage is during off-peak hours.

Additional information about rates and billing is available on the RMLD website. Questions or comments can be directed to Customer Service at customerservice@rmld.com.