For the 20th consecutive year, a  study of 106 cities ranks the rates paid by Lincoln Electric System customers among the lowest in the U.S.

The annual survey compared electric bills at various usage levels and revealed LES’ electric costs are among the lowest for all classes of customers, said the utility’s Rich Andrysik in a news release.

LES rates remain unchanged since the last survey was conducted a year ago. The last rate change was a 4.5 percent hike in February 2006.

The survey said LES’ bills ranked ninth lowest, overall. Residential electric bills were seventh lowest and commercial and industrial bills eleventh lowest.

Andrysik said LES residential customers using 1,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity per month pay $61, or 41 percent less than the survey average of $103.

The city with the highest rate was Cambridge, Mass., where residents paid $201 per month. Boise, Idaho, had the lowest residential monthly bill at $52.

Andrysik said 55 percent of the utilities in the survey reported rate increases in 2007.

“Even with the February 2006 rate increase, the rates paid today by LES customers are just 28.5 percent higher than rates charged 20 years ago, while the Consumer Price Index has increased by almost 84 percent since that time,” he said.

Andrysik attributed LES’ low rates to:  low operating  and repair costs at power plants supplying electricity to the city-owned utility, a conservation program where nine large businesses curtail power use at peak times, and high bond ratings which allow LES to borrow money at lower interest rates.