Delay in Electric Rate Price Hikes

There’s been a delay in a federal order that would have meant large electric rate increases for many Upper Peninsula homes and businesses as early as this week. The Midcontinent Independent System Operator has been requiring Marquette’s Presque Isle Power Plant stay open, and was requiring all U.P. utilities to foot the bill. But the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has delayed that for at least the next 30 days. It’s estimated that all U.P. utilities will have to pay more than $100 million a year in extra costs if Wisconsin is exempted from sharing Presque Isle’s operating costs. U.P. utilities also share in, to a much-lesser extent, the costs of operating the Escanaba and White Pine power plants. Dan Dasho, President and CEO of the Cloverland Electric Co-op which has 42,000 residential and business customers across the eastern and central Upper Peninsula, says that the delay will allow U.P. electric customers to at least get through the holidays without a spike in their bills.