PALMER – MEA’s power provider, Chugach Electric Association, has announced that its retail and wholesale customers will see a significant increase in their electric bills during the first quarter of 2009.
“Chugach’s wholesale power costs are going up 31 percent,” said MEA General Manager Wayne Carmony. “Regrettably, that also means an increase to MEA members,” he explained.
MEA is bound to an all-requirements contract with Chugach Electric, meaning MEA purchases all of its power from the Anchorage utility.
In November, Chugach announced a major increase in its fuel surcharge, which is automatically flowed through to MEA. This increase drives MEA’s first quarter Wholesale Power Cost Rate Adjustment (WPCRA) up to 7.345 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh), an increase of 2.535 cents per kWh.
Last January, the average MEA member used 1,046 kWh.
“This wholesale rate increase applied to the average retail use from last January equates to an additional $26.53 on a member’s monthly bill,” said MEA spokesperson Lorali Carter.
“As we saw in a recent Anchorage Daily News article, consumption of natural gas and electricity is at an all-time high,” she said. “With many MEA members using more than their annual average during this recent cold snap, the rate increase will hit pocketbooks even harder,” Carter added.
For more information, contact Lorali Carter at (907) 761-9266.