Starting Monday, the worldwide drop in energy prices will begin paying a dividend to Peco Energy Co.’s natural gas customers in the Philadelphia suburbs.

Peco said yesterday that it would lower its gas-cost rate next month to $1.01 per 100 cubic feet of gas – down 23 percent from current rates and just a penny more than the rate in effect a year ago, before this summer’s spike to prices not seen since Hurricanes Katrina and Rita ravaged the Gulf Coast.

Peco, which serves about 484,000 gas customers in the city’s Pennsylvania suburbs, had been predicting a gas-rate decrease as energy prices fell sharply in late summer and fall. Under state law, utilities pass along the actual commodity cost of natural gas to their customers, adjusting rates quarterly to reflect overcharges or undercharges.

Article continues… Philly.com