Customers hit with high electric bills

MARSHFIELD – It’s been months since a polar vortex chilled Marshfield, but utility customers are still experiencing the effects of the cold winter when they open their monthly electric bills.

The Power Cost Adjustment Clause, which allows utility companies to pass along the cost of purchasing or producing energy, reached a high 2.19 cents per kilowatt hour in June, driving utility bills up $17.52 for the average customer.

The PCAC averaged 0.37 cents per kilowatt hour in 2013 and has jumped to an average 1.4 cents per kilowatt hour so far in 2014.

Marshfield Utilities manager Bob Trussoni said the cold winter has been the main reason for the higher costs.

Natural gas market prices were about seven times higher than normal in central Wisconsin due to demand over the winter, resulting in Marshfield Utilities spending an additional $600,000 on power in 2014.

It can take a few months for increased costs to get passed along to the customer.

Trussoni said mild spring and summer temperatures have allowed power companies to store natural gas, which he hopes will help keep prices down next winter.

Power plants converting to natural gas also has contributed to price fluctuations, Trussoni said. While the cost of coal and nuclear power remains steady, natural gas prices fluctuate with demand.

“More plants are using natural gas, and the infrastructure didn’t fully develop to get gas to those plants,” Trussoni said. He said more gas pipeline infrastructure is needed to keep up with the demand for natural gas and keep costs down.

Meanwhile, customers can take steps to combat high electric bills.

“One thing I’d suggest if they haven’t done it already is having a free home energy audit,” Trussoni said. “One of our guys can come in and help look for ways to save energy.”

John Mueller, owner of Mueller Electric in Marshfield, said one easy step home and business owners can take to cut electricity costs is replacing fluorescent and incandescent lights with LED lights.

“Everyday common sense stuff like shutting things off when you’re not using them,” can reduce energy consumption, along with setting the thermostat higher in the summer and lower in the winter and lowering the temperature setting on the hot water heater, Mueller said.

“I’ve heard people complain off and on over the years about high electrical bills, but when you look outside of Marshfield, you realize Marshfield has just about the cheapest electricity in the nation,” he added.

Marisa Cuellar can be reached at 715-384-3131. Find her on Twitter as @cuellm34.