For the holidays this year, Gainesville Regional Utilities is giving its some 93,000 customers a gift that few will argue with: lower bills.

At a special City Commission meeting Tuesday, commissioners unanimously approved a plan that would save both residential and commercial customers on their monthly electric bills.

The change is expected to take place Feb. 1, though bills will reflect electricity used in January. Commissioners will still need to approve an ordinance twice before the change goes into effect and will later consider reducing the city's general fund transfer to save customers more money.

“Who knows what we will be able to do in the future, but for now we're starting the process of making GRU electric rates extremely competitive,” Commissioner Harvey Ward said.

On Nov. 7, the city of Gainesville and its utility, GRU, purchased the controversial biomass plant, formerly known as the Gainesville Renewable Energy Center, for $754 million. The purchase eliminated a multi-billion dollar contractual obligation from the city to GREC. GRU officials said the sale would result in significant savings for its electric customers.

Tuesday, the commission was presented options to disperse the savings. They selected a “weighted” non-residential option, which was also recommended by the city’s Utility Advisory Board, meaning business will see the bulk of the savings. Residental customers will receive slightly less.

City Commissioner David Arreola said the weighted non-residential option will translate to an annual average of $120 less for residential customers, $300 less for a small office, $4,800 less for larger offices and about $68,000 less for some of the city’s highest users.

“That’s major,” Arreola said. “The (weighted) non-residential provides the highest savings for the most customers.”

GRU officials have repeatedly said the sale will result in an 8 to 10 percent savings on customers’ monthly electric bills, though it was clear Tuesday that that decrease referred to the rates. Those rates, however, could be impacted by the 10-percent base-rate increases GRU is proposing from 2018 through 2022, although any such decision is subject to the commission’s approval.

Under the plan approved Tuesday, businesses should see a 10 percent reduction in their GRU rates, but taxes and surcharges could push that down. Residents living within the city limits, with taxes included, could see about a 7 percent reduction in their electric bill.

Those outside city limits will see about a 5 percent reduction, due to an additional county surcharge from GRU.

Still, commissioners are glad to bring down rates.

Commissioner Adrian Hayes-Santos said the reduction of residential rates, which are among the highest in the state, will put GRU about 4.5 percent lower than the state average for investor-owned utilities, like Duke Energy and Florida Power and Light.

Commissioner Charles Goston expressed disappointment that savings were not immediately dispersed to customers in November when the city took ownership of GREC, but voted for the change. Goston opposed the purchase of the GREC plant, voting against the purchase multiple times.

Contact reporter Andrew Caplan at andrew.caplan@gvillesun.com