LANSING – The Michigan Public Service Commission on Thursday approved DTE Electric Company’s amended renewable energy plan, reducing residential customers’ monthly renewable energy surcharge by 85 percent effective January 2014.

The new surcharge will be 43 cents per meter per month for residential customers, down from $3 per month, the commission said.

UPPER PENINSULA POWER COMPANY: The company reached an agreement with the commission authorizing it to increase its electric rates by more than $5.8 million effective January 2014, resulting in an increase of $4.72 on the monthly bill of a residential customer using 500 kilowatt-hours in the Interconnected District. That same customer in the River District will see an increase of $4.97 on his or her monthly bill, the PSC said.

The final agreed-upon amount is 26 percent below what the utility requested. Under the terms of the settlement (Case No. U-17274), the utility’s authorized rate of return on common equity is 10.15 percent, resulting in an overall rate of return of 5.7969 percent.

CLOVERLAND ELECTRIC RATES INCREASE: The commission approved a settlement authorizing Cloverland Electric Cooperative to increase its revenues by $2 million rather than the more than $4.598 million it had requested, resulting in residential rates from the two legacy territories to be combined into one rate.

Residential customers in Cloverland’s Edison Sault legacy territory using 500 kilowatt-hours a month will see an increase of $4.25 on the next monthly bill, while the same type of customers in the company’s Cloverland legacy territory will see an increase of only $1.44 on their monthly starting in January (Case No. U-16885-R).

INDIAN MICHIGAN POWER COMPANY: A settlement authorizing Indiana Michigan Power Company’s (American Electric Power) 2014-2015 energy optimization plan means customers using 500 kilowatt-hours of electricity a month will see an increase of 17 cents on their monthly bills beginning in January 2014 (Case No. U-17353).

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