LANSING – The Public Service Commission on Thursday approved a slew of settlement agreements, including one authorizing Michigan Gas Utilities Corporation to increase natural gas rates by nearly $5 million across the board effective January 1, 2014.
The Michigan Gas rate change would result in an increase of 96 cents on the monthly bill of a residential customer using 100 ccf of natural gas a month, the commission said.
Originally, the company had filed an application requesting a rate increase of more than $8 million. The final amount approved on Thursday (Case U-17273) represents an increase of 3.5 percent over the rates set in the last natural gas rate case, the commission noted.
On a separate matter, the commission also approved a settlement agreement authorizing DTE Energy Gas Company to reconcile its revenue decoupling mechanism for July 1, 2012 through October 31, 2012. As a result, residential customers using 100 ccf of natural gas a month will see an increase of 47 cents on their monthly bill effective December 2013 through March 2014 (U-17216).
ENERGY OPTIMIZATION PROGRAMS: The PSC and Consumers Energy agreed to a settlement involving the company’s costs and revenues for two of its energy optimization plans (Case U-17281). Residential customers using 500 kilowatt-hours of electricity a month will see a decrease of 4 cents on their monthly bills effective January 2014, and residential customers using 100 ccf of natural gas a month will see a decrease of 61 cents on their monthly bills effective January 2014.
Consumers customers using 500 kilowatt-hours of electricity a month will also see an increase of 8 cents a month on their monthly bills, beginning in December, due to a separate agreement authorizing the company to decrease its bond principal and interest securitization surcharge (Case U-12505).
The changes are part of periodic true-up of the charges required to ensure that the amounts collected are sufficient to service the securitization bonds and to recover the associated tax liability, the commission noted.
PSC also approved a settlement agreement authorizing SEMCO Gas Company to implement its energy optimization plan for 2014 and 2015 (Case U-17362), resulting in an increase of 41 cents on their monthly bill to residential customers using 100 therms of natural gas a month effective January 2014.
And Indiana Michigan Power Company can implement its biennial renewable energy plan (Case U-17303), the commission decided Thursday, resulting in an increase of 36 cents on the monthly bill of residential customers beginning January 2014.
ALTERNATIVE GAS SUPPLIERS: The commission granted a license to TERM Power and Gas, LLC, doing business as ENCOA, as an alternative gas supplier. The company has established an office in Plymouth (Case U-17270).
It also granted a license to Stand Energy Corporation, which has established an office in Lansing (Case U-17469).
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