RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Dominion Virginia Power is lowering what the utility charges customers to recover its fuel costs.

The Richmond company says that starting Sunday, the reduction in its fuel rate will lower the average monthly bill of a typical residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt-hours by $5.83.

In May, the State Corporation Commission approved Dominion's request to reduce the fuel rate for its about 2.3 million Virginia customers. It is the fifth decrease in the fuel rate in the last three years and the largest single fuel rate decrease since 1998.

Virginia law allows Dominion to bill its customers for the company's cost of fuel used to generate electricity and the power the utility company buys.