Electric Prices on the Rise in the U.P.

Unless something is done at the federal level, your electric bill will probably rise quite a bit in the near future. It’s because of a change in how the operating costs of Marquette’s Presque Isle Power Plant are paid for. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ruled in August that U.P. electric customers will have to begin footing most of the bill for the plant. Wisconsin customers have been paying more than 90% of the costs until now. Starting December 1st, U.P. customers will have to pay for more than half of those expenses through increased bills. Cloverland Electric Cooperative president and CEO Dan Dasho says they are expecting that an average residential customer who uses about 800 kilowatt-hours a month would see a cost of about $27 per month of an increase, close to $350 a year. Sam Lockwood of the Keweenaw Renewable Energy Coalition says costs in the U.P. are looking to increase.

Last week, members of the KREC sent an open letter on behalf of residents and families in the Upper Peninsula to Governor Rick Snyder asking him to help resolve their region’s energy crisis.