PSCR Charge to Increase

Jan. 2, 2014
 
Great Lakes Energy members will see a small increase in the Power Supply Cost Recovery (PSCR) charge on their bills starting this year.
Effective Jan. 1, 2015, the PSCR factor for residential, seasonal and general service single phase members increased from 1.415 to 1.65 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh). An average residential member who uses 800 kWh per month will pay an extra $1.88 in PSCR charges per month.
The purpose of the PSCR factor is to collect only what is needed each budget year to cover our power supply costs from Wolverine Power Cooperative, whose generation and transmission costs may change frequently and unexpectedly throughout the year.
Natural gas shortages due to 2014’s extremely cold and long winter caused power supply costs to increase. The 2014 PSCR factor was not able to cover this unexpected increase in power supply costs. This resulted in a PSCR shortage, or under-collection, of about $2 million that the new factor beginning this January will cover.
The PSCR is a pass-through cost and does not contain margins/profits for GLE. All funds collected for the PSCR go directly to our power supplier to help provide stable and reliable power for members.
Most other non-residential and non-seasonal users – such as outdoor lighting and small commercial accounts – also will see the same slight increase in their PSCR factor. Their factor will change from 2.123 to 2.358 cents/kWh.
Most other Michigan electric utilities have a similar charge that adjusts for power supply cost fluctuations on electric bills.