By VINAYA SAKSENA

PROVIDENCE — Following its recent request to reduce natural gas rates, National Grid is now seeking a reduction in the price of electricity.

The London-based company, which provides electricity in several states, including Rhode Island, announced Tuesday that it was seeking to introduce rate changes that would effectively lower costs for the average customer by “more than 13 percent.” If approved by the Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission, the change would go into effect Jan. 1, said National Grid spokesman David Graves.
If approved as is, the change would also include an increase in delivery costs, which the company said would amount to “slightly more than one-half of one cent per kilowatt hour.”
Graves explained that customers’ bills have two components: the cost of the electricity itself and the cost of delivering it.
The company makes its profits on distribution, not the electricity itself, Graves said. He attributed the requested increase in delivery charges to maintenance costs being passed on to National Grid by its suppliers, one of which is New England Power — itself a subsidiary of National Grid.
“That price is going up,” Graves said. “That includes maintenance on the transmission system that we’re using.”
In its press release, National Grid indicated that a typical residential electric customer in Rhode Island using 500 kilowatts of electricity each month would see a reduction in their bill from $93.44 to $80.60 — a 13.7 percent dip.
National Grid said it was hoping to institute a electricity rate decrease of about 23 percent. The net reduction reflects the added cost of transmission, Graves said.
The spokesman could not predict how long the new prices would remain in effect before his employer might petition the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) for another rate change.
“The whole purpose of the rate (change) is to keep it as close to an even keel as we can,” Graves said. “We can’t go out to the pump every day and tweak the price by a penny or two.”
In recent months, National Grid drew criticism when its request for a gas rate hike was OK’d by the PUC.
Graves said about 40 percent of the electricity it distributes is generated from natural gas. Nuclear power makes up approximately 28 percent of the energy, with between 8 and 10 percent coming from oil and an unspecified amount from hydroelectric or biomass sources, Graves said.