If approved, the average NSTAR customer will be paying almost $20 less a month beginning January 1 than they did in the first half of 2009. Nearly 800,000 customers in NSTAR’s service territory will benefit from these price cuts.

“Between lower electricity supply prices and increased energy efficiency, customers are seeing much lower bills this year,” said Tom May, NSTAR Chairman, President and CEO. “The decline in market prices has allowed us to pass along some significant savings to our customers in recent months and in today’s difficult economy this represents one of the bright spots.”

Though delivery charges vary slightly by region, the Basic Service supply price for all residential customers will drop by 3.7 percent, from 9.22 cents to 8.88 cents per kilowatt-hour. Customers of the former Boston Edison Company using an average of 500 kilowatt-hours per month will see their total bill drop from $88.56 to $86.86. The average 500 kilowatt-hour bill for customers of the former Cambridge Electric Company will fall from $77.60 to $75.90. For those in the former Commonwealth Electric territory, the average bill will decrease from $92.77 to $91.07.

The decreases can be largely attributed to a drop-off in prices for oil and natural gas, fuels used to generate electricity. 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 purchase electricity through aggregate buyers or directly from suppliers are not affected by this price reduction. By law, Basic Service prices for residential customers change twice a year, on July 1 and January 1.

Today's good news for NSTAR's electricity customers comes just three days after the company slashed its winter gas supply price by 38 percent, saving heating customers an average of $60 a month compared to last winter.

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.