The lower rates translate to about a $4 monthly saving to residential customers starting on July 1 and ending on October 1.

The Ocala City Council recently agreed to give city electric customers a break on their summer power bills to the tune of about $1.5 million.

The summer relief program drops rates by four cents per kilowatt hour from July 1 through Oct. 1, said Michael Poucher, Ocala Electric Utility director.

The council voted unanimously to lower the rates at their regular meeting on June 4.

While the bottom line to residential customers translates to about $4 off each month, Chrystal Cox appreciates any savings.

"I think every little bit helps. I wish they could do a little more though," Cox said.

Poucher said there's not much room to cut as the city charges roughly enough to cover the cost of providing power. The $1.5 million surplus is due to the lower than expected price of natural gas. About 80 percent of the city's power comes from natural gas-powered generators.

"The price of natural gas is lower than what we expected so we have over-collected on our rates. We want to give that money back to our customers," Poucher said.

There are 51,000 Ocala Electric customers, including residential and commercial. Each can expect about a 3.6 percent reduction in their electric bill thanks to the lowered rate, Poucher said.

The last time the utility ran a similar program was about five or six years ago, said Poucher, who's been with OEU for 33 years, the last eight as the director.

Summer sees the largest jump in power usage mostly because of air conditioners running harder due to the heat, but also because children are out of school and at home more.

"We wanted to give them a little relief when their bills are going to be the highest," Poucher said.

Cox said she normally keeps the air conditioning off most of the year, relying on open windows and fans to cool down, but summer is just too hot.

"I had to run my central AC the last few weeks," Cox said. "I try not to use the oven to try to keep the house cool."

Electric bills issued after July 1 will reflect the reduced rates, which are set to return to the previous level on Oct. 1.

"We will reevaluate at that time and see where we stand," Poucher said.

Contact Carlos E. Medina at 867-4157 or cmedina@starbanner.com