Entergy customers will be paying more for electricity this summer.

On Tuesday, the company announced a temporary rate hike of about 5 percent, citing the rising cost of natural gas.

“The unusually cold winter and high usage led to a sharp increase in natural gas prices, which is a significant driver of our under recovery,” said Haley Fisackerly, Entergy Mississippi president and CEO. “Right now, we have incurred more than $60 million in fuel costs that have not been collected through current rates.”

With the temporary increase, the typical residential customer using 1,000 kilowatts of power will pay $113.65 beginning in July.

“That’s about $5.57 more than the typical customer paid for the same amount of electricity at the beginning of this year. This amount also includes a small increase related to ad valorem taxes of $0.25,” Entergy spokeswoman Tammy Rankin said in an email.

In spite of the rate increase, Entergy Mississippi’s residential rates should remain below the national average residential rate of $117.60, according the latest figures from the U.S. Department of Energy.

Entergy Mississippi is requesting the mid-year adjustment to its rates because natural gas prices are projected to remain above the fuel price currently being charged to customers. Natural gas costs rose about 12.5 percent in 2013 and rose some 33 percent in 2012.

“Even with the rise in price, natural gas is still a very affordable, abundant and efficient fuel source, and prices today remain significantly below record high prices in 2008,” Rankin said.

Entergy Mississippi Inc. provides electricity to approximately 441,000 customers in 45 counties. It is a subsidiary of Entergy Corp.

Entergy owns and operates power plants with approximately 30,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity, including more than 10,000 megawatts of nuclear power, making it one of the nation’s leading nuclear generators and delivers electricity to 2.8 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.