Monday, July 27, 2015

Electricity prices to increase for individuals, decrease for businesses at state's largest utilities

Electricity prices to increase for individuals, decrease for businesses at state's largest utilities | MLive.com:
"LANSING, MI -- Electricity prices at the state's two largest utilities will increase for individuals and decrease for commercial and industrial users under plans recently approved by the Michigan Public Service Commission.
The MPSC opened this case after the legislature passed a bill requiring energy companies and the commission to explore methods for allocating electricity transmission costs across customers "based on cost of service."
...Effective Dec. 1, Consumers Energy residential customers will see their bills rise by 3.2 percent. Primary industrial and commercial customers will pay 4.4 percent less and secondary commercial and industrial customers will pay 0.3 percent less.
..."To add more electricity to the grid becomes more and more expensive," said Wheeler.
So let's say you're running your dryer.
It's cheaper for Consumers if you run it at night and more expensive if you run it during the day.
But right now, you're charged the same amount no matter when you run it.
Under the optional program, which is slated to start in January of 2017, you could access different rates. 
If you ran your dryer at night, it would cost you less than running it during the day.
"This would actually reward people financially if they participated in the program with different rates depending on the time of of day that it's used," Wheeler said."

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