Hampton, NH - (October 24, 2006): Unitil Corporation (AMEX:UTL) announced today that winter period Energy Service rates for its New Hampshire subsidiary were approved by the Public Utilities Commission. The changes will take effect on November 1, 2006 and will be in place until May 1, 2007.
A typical residential customer using 500 kWh per month will see their bill increase by $5.42 per month, or approximately 7.1%, as a result of the change from current summer period Energy Service rates to the new winter period rates. Small business customers will see similar increases. The increase in Energy Service charges is due to higher wholesale supply costs for the winter period compared to the summer period.
Energy Service rates for large consumers in Unitil's rate class G1 are re-set every three months - the average increase over the next three months for these customers will be about 16%, reflecting the higher wholesale power supply costs for the winter period.
These Energy Service rate changes do not affect customers who have a competitive electric supply. Approximately 44% of Unitil's G1 customers, representing over 53% of total sales to this large customer group, have competitive electric supply service. More than 100 small business and municipal customers have also switched to competitive electric supply service.
Energy Service is provided to customers who do not have their own retail competitive electricity supply. This service is procured through a competitive bid process, and the resulting prices are passed through to customers without profit or mark up from the local distribution company.
For information on how customers can conserve energy and control their energy costs, visit the Unitil web site at www.unitil.com or contact Unitil's customer service center for the Capital area at 1-800-852-3339 or the Seacoast area at 1-800-582-7276.
Unitil Corporation at www.unitil.com is a public utility holding company with subsidiaries providing electric service in New Hampshire, electric and gas service in Massachusetts and energy services throughout the Northeast.
Contact
George Gantz
gantz@unitil.com
Corporate Office
Liberty Lane West
Hampton, NH 03842-1720
800/999-6501
