CU projects lower electric rates for 6 months

City Utilities of Springfield is projecting lower residential electric rates for the next sixth months.

From October through March, customers are expected to pay 80 cents less monthly per 1,000 kilowatt-hours compared with the same time period a year earlier, according to a news release.

CU officials estimated the rate savings by projecting fuel costs for the six-month period and the actual cost of fuel used in previous periods.

Based on 1,000 kWh per month, the decrease makes the monthly impact $2.10 less than the 10-year average rate, according to the release.

CU also predicts natural gas customers will pay 35 cents less based on an average 103 therms used per month. CU cited residential customer usage patterns for the decrease.