PSNH customers can expect a bit of a break on their electricity bills starting this year, at least enough to run the coffee maker a couple of times more on a cold winter morning.

Thanks to lower prices on the energy market and expected lower costs at PSNH’s power plants, the company lowered its 2012 residential rates by about 2.5 percent.

Residential customers using 500 kilowatt hours a month will pay $86.86 instead of $89.01 with the new rates. Customers using 600 kilowatt hours will pay $101.92 instead of $104.50, and 700 kilowatt hours a month will cost $116.98 instead of $120, according to the company.

State regulators adjust the utility’s rates at least once a year so they reflect what it actually costs PSNH to produce or purchase electricity. Another rate adjustment could come around March when the state Public Utilities Commission is expected to adjust for the cost recovery generated by the scrubber system installed at PSNH’s Merrimack Station, according to the company.

– JOSEPH G. COTE

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