UPPCO Costs

There’s no word yet from officials at Semco Energy about how local rates will be affected.

But natural gas prices have dropped sharply in recent months.

They’re down about 35 percent within the last year.

And they’re contributing to a decline in electric bills.

On an electric bill, power supply cost recovery reflects fuel costs, and the cost for utilities to purchase the electricity that they sell.

UPPCO says those costs went down for them last year.

They want to pass the savings to customers.

Power transmission costs have also gone down.

The savings come out to about a penny per kilowatt hour used.

UPPCO officials say the price decline in natural gas futures was also one of the factors in this move.

The Michigan Public Service Commission is expected to approve it sometime this spring.