RMLD Announces Rate Increases Not As High As First Forecast

READING, MA — Reading Municipal Light Department (RMLD) announced Tuesday that customer bills actually will be 40 percent lower than were originally forecast.

In January, RMLD, which supplies power to Reading, Wilmington, North Reading, and Lynnfield Center, announced that monthly bills were estimated to increase by an average of 9 percent across all rate classes, with the rate change effective March 1, 2023.

However, RMLD now says that its 2023 monthly bills only will be 5 percent above 2022 monthly bills — averaged across all rate classes — due to lower fuel, capacity and transmission costs.

"RMLD actively manages its power supply. Our current portfolio has 85 percent locked under fixed contracts with the remaining 15 percent purchased in open markets," RMLD General Manager Greg Phipps said. "Mild New England winter weather lowered regional natural gas demand which lowered regional open market wholesale electricity costs. RMLD is passing that savings along to our customers."

RMLD said that based on the most recent estimate, monthly bills beginning this month are expected to increase by 6.2 percent for residential customers, 3.9 percent for residential time-of-use customers, 8.3 percent for commercial customers, 1.6 percent for industrial time-of-use customers, and 2 percent for schools.

The company said the rates are calculated based on the cost of service to serve each rate class, based on rate studies.

RMLD has published a sample bill 0nline that reflects the current rate changes.