Pioneer Electric Co-Op members will be seeing a reduction in the rates they pay for electricity in the coming months.

The Pioneer Board of Trustees approved a rate reduction of electricity by almost two percent on Thursday.

“Our power supplier, PowerSouth, has projected a decrease in the wholesale price of power for the remainder of the year, and, we are now passing that savings on to our members in the form of a reduced Wholesale Power Adjustment (WPA)” Pioneer General Manager, Steve Harmon, said. “Our board is extremely excited to be in a position to help our members deal with the current economic recession by dropping our commercial and residential rates …” Harmon said.

Harmon said the average residential co-op member uses approximately 1,200 kilowatts per hour, meaning a reduction of their power bill by almost $3.60 per month. The net effect is an overall savings to both residential and commercial members, said Harmon.

Harmon said Pioneer is also looking at redesigning its rate structure in January 2010 to more fairly distribute costs across each rate class, and to reduce a dependence on weather variations.