JAMAICA Public Service Company (JPS) customers will see a reduction of more than 5 per cent in their electricity bills this month, as a result of a drop in the Fuel & IPP Charge applied to the August bills.

In a release today, JPS said that the new fuel and IPP charge on bills is $20.72 per kilowatt-hour, compared to a charge of $22.50 per kilowatt-hour last month.

“The fuel and IPP Charge on electricity bills is adjusted each month to reflect changes in the price of the oil purchased from Petrojam to generate electricity, as well as the variable costs paid to the independent power producers who sell electricity to JPS. Most of this charge is for fuel. Of the $20.72 Fuel & IPP Charge per kilowatt-hour (kWh), $20.33 represents fuel costs, while 39 cents is the IPP Charge,” said JPS.

The utility said that a typical residential customers who consistently uses 200 kWh of electricity will see a drop of approximately $350 in their August bill, compared to the July bill (from $6,852 to $6,500). Rate 20 business customers using 2,000 kWh will see a drop of about $3,800 (from $77,101 to $73,235), while Rate 40 commercial customers using 25,000 kWh will see a drop of approximately $48,000 in their bill (from $858,691 to $810,154).

The company also said the impact of the reduction in the fuel and IPP charge will vary from customer to customer, and is dependent on each customer’s usage pattern.