Great Lakes Energy base rate increase?

[DON]

You may have noticed in the recent "Michigan Country Lines" and an insert with your bill that Great Lakes Energy is considering an increase in the base rate and a reduction in the per kwh rate. See page 2-3 in the recent issure.

The base rate will increase from $18.28 to $32.31 PLUS the Beaver Island Surcharge of $10.25. That means we will be paying $42.81 per month just to have a meter. Thats $14.28 per month higher then we are paying now. Yes the kwh rate will drop about 1 cent for residents and about 6 cents for Seasonal users but unless you use a lot of power you will be paying more per month. I fully understand their reassoning for wanting to increase the base rate to cover fixed costs but when the Surcharge is added it becomes pretty high at $513.72 per account per year with no energy use. We have 2 seperate meters on the island so our annual fixed rate will be $1027.44 just for the meters. They are not on the same property.

I spoke with them at the recent Home Show in Petoskey and ask how long the Surcharge will continue and they couldn't answer it. They may get back to me with that date and I will post it if I get it.

There is a meeting in Boyne City on March 22 (this Friday) at 11AM.
I would like to see a lower rate or maybe drop the surcharge all together. My energy use is pretty small and we are considering using solar and a generator to get rid of the charge all together. Not sure yet.

I am planning on going to the meeting but you can comment by email to the Chariman Richard Walsworth at rwalsworth@glenergy.com or any of the others listed on Page 2 of the magazine. I think if they get enough comments they may make some adjustment for Beaver Island to make the change more acceptable.

I think it is ironic that power companies promote energy efficiency but now that people are using less they are going to increase our fixed charge to make up for the reduced sale of power.

Don Seelye Charlevoix.

[esteger]

Why is there a Beaver Island surcharge? I thought the REA came into being so remote users such as Beaver Island would receive electrical service for the same cost as metropolitan areas.

[DON]

The surcharge was put in place to pay for the expensive underwater cable to the island. I would hope it is about paid for now.

Don Seelye

[BobTidmore]

At one time I understand there are about 900 meters on the island. Lets see, thatâ??s $12,852 per month more to the Power Company or $154,224 per year. How much do they need, who knows? That and that stupid fee Energy Optimization Fee.

As you recall they recently opted our of being under state control for rate increases, guess this was the plan all along.

Bob Tidmore
Beaver Island, MI

[DON]

I just got my answer from Great Lakes Energy about the time limit of the $10.25 surcharge. It was started in 2000 and is set to go for 30 years and then be reviewed. That means we have 17 more years to go. Based on this information the base rate for all individual Beaver Island meters is going to be $42.81 per month. For those of us with 2 meters like ktaylor myself, and others, the monthly cost is $85.62 or $1027.44 a year with no power usage.

PLEASE comment to the Great Lakes Energy people and ask that the surcharge of $10.25 be included in the $32.21 per month charge. As esteger commented, the CoOps were set up to provide power to all remote areas at a rate comparable to the metropolitan areas. With this high base rate this is not the case for Beaver Island.

Please call everyone you know on the island and have them comment. A flood of comments might make a difference. You don't need to write a long letter just a few to the point words will have an impact. Strength is in the numbers.

Don Seelye

[Lois Sowa Stipp]

Sent in my email

[Vincent]

It seems to me that the Beaver Island surcharge was instituted earlier than year 2000. I remember some stuffed suit offering the old generating station to the island for the cost a dollar and there by ending our relationship with Wolverine (our provider at the time). Maybe Wolverine sold the debit to Gt Lakes in 2000.

Also I have observed the only time the generators ( that we are paying for) run is when Gt Lakes needs additional power on hot summer days. I wonder if we are being reimbursed for the power sent to the mainland?

I chuckle every time I receive a flyer from Gt Lakes on how to conserve energy, when they are making it easier to waste that energy due to lower per kilowatt rates.

[DON]

I attended the GLE Board meeting today at 11:00am in Boyne City. There were a lot of people there not happy with the Base Charge Increase but I was the only one that brought up the Beaver Island surcharge and how it would make the Beaver Island Base Charge higher than any of the the other GLE customers when the new rate goes into affect. It was pretty obvious the board was set on voting in the new base rate of $32.21 per month so we had no chance of changing that part of the rate change. The BI surcharge would be on top of that.

The Board decided they are going to drop the $10.25 surcharge for Beaver Island. This is HUGE news and I am sure it happened because of all of the letters that they received from everyone. This surcharge was supposed to go for another 17 years.

What this means is the new base charge of $32.21 per month will take affect on Sept 1, 2013. This is $4.00 higher than we are paying now and exactly the same as all other GLE customers will be paying. The cost per kWH will drop to 0.08640 for all customers. No seasonal customer rate. This is about 1 cent less for residential customers and about 6 cents less for seasonal customers. If you use much power your bill will be less. This may not be all great news for some but just remember that without our efforts our per month base charge would have been $42.46 per month before you used any power.

I am sure you will see this announced in the next Country Lines magazine and all of the finer points will be explained.

Thanks again to all that got involved.

Don Seelye

[Marie LaFreniere]

I received an email from Dave Guzniczak, the Communications Director
indicating the Island surcharge is being eliminated in September.

Thank you very much Don for bringing this to everyone's attention.

[Bruce Beaudoin]

I also received an email stating the surcharge will be dropped effective September 2013. Thank you Don for bringing this to our attention!

[Kim Connaghan Jones]

Thank you Don.

[cindyr]

Thank you, Don!

[jflanagan]

Thanks to you Don, and, all who made this happen.

[G]

Don â?? Thank you for making us aware of this and for leading the charge!!

[Gillespie]

No reply from them to my note but it is obvious you're intercession made a difference Don, good job. They had been asked about a sunset point for this in very recent times and told us there wasn't one. In an email Friday I reminded them that they established too high an annual increase in consumption for our local leaders to understand thus causing this thing to have an "open end!" Thank you!