ED3 rates compare favorably to APS’

As summer approaches, Maricopa residents may be interested to know Electrical District No. 3 rates compare favorably with those of the Phoenix electric power provider, Arizona Public Service.

William Stacy, general manager of ED3, said the utility’s residential rates are “very similar to APS (and) could be lower depending on the usage.”

The so-called Time of Use plans, popular in summer months, provide a cheaper rate per kilowatt-hour after 7 p.m. until noon the next day.

ED3’s summer, or May-to-October rate, for noon to 7 p.m. — considered “on-peak hours” — is 22 cents per kwh, according to the utility’s website. During off-peak hours, the charge is 5 cents per kwh. These prices are for residents served by underground transmission lines, which includes the city of Maricopa.

By comparison, APS’s May-to-October rates are 24 cents per kwh during on-peak hours and 6 cents per kwh during off-peak hours, according to the APS website.

The basic residential monthly service charge for ED3 customers is $16.50 a month. The noon to 7 p.m. Time of Use monthly service charge is $17.50 a month. According to Damon Gross, APS spokesman, the standard residential monthly service charge is $10 a month and for Time of Use plans $15 a month, depending on the number of days in the billing cycle.

About five years ago, when ED3 became Maricopa’s electrical service provider, APS knew it was important to the community that the ED3 rates be relatively similar to those of APS, their former provider. APS worked hard to ensure this, Gross said.

ED3 started operating in 1926, originally to provide area farmers with electricity to irrigate their crops. It is a non-profit utility currently providing electricity to about 65,000 customers.

The company’s service area stretches north to the Gila River Indian Reservation, west to the Maricopa County line, east near the Francisco Grande Hotel in Casa Grande and south to the Tohono O’odham Indian Reservation.

It is a myth that customers pay a premium electric rate in Maricopa, Stacy said. ED3 has not raised its rates for five years.

In 2008, when the economy was still strong, ED3 signed a five-year contract with APS to purchase a portion of its power, he said. At that time, the market looked like a shortage of power could occur.

“At that time the price of natural gas (an indicator for electric rates) was high and everything was going up,” so signing the contract seemed the prudent thing to do, he said.

Six months later, the recession hit and electrical rates fell, he said.

At the end of the five years, ED3 extended the contract another 16 months, locking in a lower rate, he said.

ED3’s contracts with APS will expire at the end of 2014.  The company signed new contracts with SRP and Sempra Power to purchase electricity, which will start in 2015 and replace the power supplied by APS.

He said it would be difficult at this time to predict whether the new contracts will lead to a cheaper electric power rates for customers.

The rates are, to an extent, tied to the price of natural gas, Stacy said. A large percentage of electricity is generated with natural gas.

Predicting a future rate is difficult because so many scenarios are possible with the situation in Ukraine involving Russian President Vladimir Putin. And, there has been “a lot of discussion” about shipping liquid natural gas to Europe, Japan and China.