Company Website: http://www.nstar.com
BOSTON -- (Business Wire)

Beginning July 1^st, NSTAR’s residential customers can expect to be paying the lowest electricity supply prices in eight years. The new rate will be nearly 16 percent less than the one currently in effect and will, on average, save NSTAR's residential customers about $6.00 a month. If approved by the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities, the new rate would be in effect through the end of December.

“We’re pleased to be passing along these significantly lower electricity prices to our customers,” said NSTAR President Werner Schweiger. “The drop is largely due to the continued decline in natural gas prices, which is the fuel used most to generate electricity in our region.”

As a regulated distribution company, NSTAR purchases electricity from suppliers and passes the cost directly to customers who are on the company’s Basic Service supply rate, with no profit to NSTAR. Customers who enter into agreements to purchase electricity through aggregate buyers or directly from suppliers are not affected by this price reduction. By law, the Basic Service price for residential customers changes twice a year, on January 1^st and July 1^st.

Though delivery charges vary slightly by region, the Basic Service supply price for all NSTAR residential customers will drop by nearly 16 percent, from 7.928 cents to 6.699 cents per kilowatt-hour beginning in July. Customers of the former Boston Edison Company using 500 kilowatt-hours per month will see their total bill drop from $86.05 to $79.91. A 500 kilowatt-hour bill for customers of the former Cambridge Electric Company will fall from $79.28 to $73.14. Those in the former Commonwealth Electric territory using 500 kilowatt-hours per month will see their bill decrease from $90.33 to $84.19.

NSTAR is the largest Massachusetts-based, investor-owned electric and gas utility. The company transmits and delivers electricity and natural gas to 1.4 million customers in Eastern and Central Massachusetts, including more than one million electric customers in 81 communities and 300,000 gas customers in 51 communities. NSTAR is a Northeast Utilities company (NYSE: NU). For more information, visit www.nstar.com.

Contacts:

NSTAR
Caroline Pretyman, 617-424-2460
or
Michael Durand, 508-441-5831
or
Evening and weekends: 617-541-7888

Source: NSTAR