A NEW, REBALANCED ELECTRIC RATE STRUCTURE

Beginning in January, MMLD customers will see a modest change in electric rates. These changes will shift the balance between the Fixed Base Rate and the Variable KWH-based Electric Energy Rate customers pay, to better reflect the actual fixed and variable costs of MMLD operations today. In short, the fixed monthly Base Rate will increase, so that more of the department’s fixed expenses are captured by the revenue raised in the fixed monthly Base Rates. In parallel, the variable Energy Rates for each rate class will be reduced.

These new rates are the result of an independent Cost of Service study, undertaken by Utility Financial Solutions LLC, (UFS), a highly reputable, nationally recognized firm based in Holland, Michigan. Over the past year MMLD has worked closely with UFS with two objectives in mind:

• (1) Ensure all customers are billed equitably, based on the amount of electricity they actually use, and
• (2) Increase the percent of revenue raised by our Fixed monthly Base Rates, to better cover the department’s actual fixed expenses.

Note that our rate restructuring is designed so that there will be no change to the monthly bill of the average energy usage customer. For example, the average residential customer, using 662 kwh of electricity per month, will see no change on their monthly amount due. Monthly bills will increase slightly for customers using less electricity than the 662 kwh average and monthly bills will decrease slightly for customers using more electricity monthly than the average.

A NEW RATES WEB PAGE

To help our electric customers fully understand their new rates, we've developed a new Rates Page that explains everything. In addition to rates, there are also links to the video of our December 15 Public Meeting and Public Meeting Presentation Slides PDF. Check out our Rates Page.

As always, please let us know if you have any questions or comments by connecting with us on our Online Contact Form.