BANGOR – Reed Gagnon, owner of Sweet’s Market downtown, will feel much better today when he turns on the electricity to his convenience store. His power rates will be at least 10 percent lower than they were on Thursday.

“I pay $800 a month for power, so take 10 percent off that, that’s $80, that’s great,” said Gagnon.

Starting today, overall electricity rates will decrease by between about 11 percent and 30 percent for homeowners, businesses and industries in Bangor Hydro-Electric Co.’s service territory.

For customers in the service territories of Central Maine Power Co. and Maine Public Service, the overall rates will be going up slightly, but they still will be below what they were in 1999, when the state’s power industry was restructured.

“I think it is a good day,” said William Nugent, a commissioner with the Maine Public Utilities Commission.

It is the restructuring of the state’s electricity industry that is being credited for the reduction in rates. In the last year, competition among power suppliers for customers nationwide, including those in Maine, have brought electricity supply prices down, Nugent said.

While there is a free market for the power, electricity transmission and distribution rates are still regulated by the PUC.

About 46 percent of the total amount of electricity used every day in Maine is purchased from competitive power suppliers, said PUC spokesman Phil Lindley. Almost all of the industries and about half of the medium-size businesses in CMP’s service territory, and almost two-thirds of the industries and one-third of the medium-size businesses in Bangor Hydro’s territory, buy their power from competitive suppliers.

“These are the highest numbers yet,” Lindley said.

But just about all of the state’s 610,000 homeowners still buy their electricity through standard offer service instead of from a competitive power supplier.

Standard offer power rates are set by the PUC after a competitive bid process among power suppliers.

On Thursday, Nugent said that since standard offer rates were set in December, wholesale electricity prices have dropped even more. But, he said, he doubts other power suppliers will compete against the standard offer provider for homeowners’ business. Marketing expenses to get customers to switch to the lower priced power would cost more than the companies could make up with their profit margins.

The power companies, however, do have incentive to go after businesses simply because they use that much more electricity. Because electricity prices are so low right now, Nugent suggests that businesses consider signing up for long-term supply contracts with power suppliers.

“We are delighted that current market circumstances have enabled us to capture generation prices for Maine’s standard offer customers that are low compared to prices of a year ago,” Nugent said. “However, we caution Maine’s medium and large business consumers that we cannot guarantee that today’s prices will be available after February 2003. They may be. They may not be. Medium and large consumers may wish to seek longer-term supply contracts which may offer today’s prices for multiyear periods.”

Besides changes in standard offer rates, transmission and distribution rates, too, are changing, with the utilities being approved an increase by the PUC to cover new expenditures that have come up in the last year.

Below is a breakdown of rates for customers in the three service territories.

Bangor Hydro territory

. Homeowners and small businesses: Overall electric bills will go down starting today by about 10 percent.

The standard offer rate starting today is 5 cents per kilowatt-hour, down from 7.3 cents. Delivery rates are going up from 9.4 cents per kilowatt-hour to about 9.7 cents, though that figure has not yet been established. Standard offer power is being sold by Constellation Power Sources of Maryland, and the rate is good for three years.

For the average household, which uses 500 kilowatt-hours of power each month, the total bill for electricity and delivery will be $73.65 a month – a savings of $9.85 per month.

“It certainly is going to be a big relief,” said Richard Davies, a public policy consultant with the Maine Community Action Association.

Many low-income families generally live in draftier homes with less energy-efficient appliances because that’s all they can afford, he said. A savings of about 10 percent on their electricity bills gives these families a little extra to spend on other things, such as food and clothing, he said.

Transmission rates are going up not because of a request by Bangor Hydro, but to cover costs that have been incurred in the last year. One of those expenses is payment on the balance of a three-year contract Bangor Hydro signed with a power supplier to provide standard offer electricity to its customers this past year, said Stephen Ward, the state’s public advocate. The PUC approved the three-year contract even though the commissioners knew they might award the standard offer contract to a different company within a year, which is what happened, Ward said.

But if the three-year contract had not been approved, Bangor Hydro customers would have had to pay much more than 7.3 cents per kilowatt-hour for electricity because wholesale prices for power were so high at the time, he said.

He estimated customers in the Bangor Hydro territory would have paid “hundreds of millions of dollars” more if a one-year contract had been signed.

As it stands now, ratepayers will be picking up the tab for about $17 million for the balance of that contract, Ward said.

. Medium-sized businesses: On average, the standard offer rate is 4.2 cents per kilowatt-hour, down from an annual average of 7.3 cents. Standard offer rates will vary depending on the time of the year. From March through May, it’s 3.558 cents; from June through August, it’s 5.165 cents; from September through November, it’s 3.465 cents; and from December through February, it’s 4.408 cents. Power is sold by Select Energy, and the prices are good for one year.

. Industrial: Standard offer rate, on average, is 4 cents per kilowatt-hour, down from an average of 7.7 cents. The rate varies depending on the time of the year and the time of the day the electricity is used. Peak times are higher. Power is sold by Select Energy, and the price is good for one year.

CMP territory

. Homeowners and small businesses: The standard offer rate will increase 2.4 percent, but the overall power bill will be 5.4 percent less than it was in 1999. The current transmission rate 7.8 cents per kilowatt hour, but that is expected to increase slightly, although the amount has not been computed by the PUC.

The standard offer rate starting today is 4.95 cents per kilowatt-hour, up from 4.1 cents. Standard offer power is being supplied by Constellation Power Sources of Maryland, and the rate is good for three years.

Based on the current transmission costs, the average household, which uses 500 kilowatt-hours of power each month, will pay a total for electricity and delivery of $63.50 a month – which is $4 more per month.

. Medium-sized businesses: On average, standard offer rates starting today are 4.2 cents per kilowatt-hour, down from 8.52 cents per kilowatt-hour. Power is sold by Select Energy, and the price is good for one year.

Standard offer rates will vary depending on the time of the year. From March through May, it’s 3.608 cents; from June through August, it’s 5.326 cents; from September through November, it’s 3.468 cents; and from December through February, it’s 4.384 cents. Power is sold by Select Energy, and the prices are good for one year.

. Industrial: Standard offer rate, on average, is 4.2 cents per kilowatt-hour, down from an average of 8.2 cents. The rate varies depending on the time of the year and the time of the day the electricity is used. Peak times are higher. Power is sold by Select Energy, and the price is good for one year.

MPS territory

. Homeowners and small businesses: The standard offer rate will increase by less than 1 percent. Transmission rates will remain the same at 7.36 cents per kilowatt hour.

The standard offer rate starting today is 5.689 cents per kilowatt-hour, up from 5.577 cents. Standard offer power is being supplied by WPS Energy Services under a three-year contract. Two years remain on that contract.

For the average household, which uses 500 kilowatt-hours of power each month, the total bill for electricity and delivery will be $65 a month – 50 cents more per month.

. Medium-sized businesses: The standard offer rate starting today is 5.7 cents per kilowatt-hour, up from 5.62 cents per kilowatt-hour.

. Industrial: The standard offer rate starting today is 5.732 cents per kilowatt-hour, up from 5.62 cents.