Consumers Energy, a public utility company, will voluntarily refund $15 million of its revenue from 2022 to 2 million of its customers. However, apart from these one-time refunds, there has been an increase in energy prices last week.
A settlement with the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) states that the Consumers Energy company will be voluntarily providing one-time refunds to around 2 million of its customers. The budget for the one-time refunds will come from the company’s revenue in 2022 worth $15 million. Once the new base rates go into effect, the one-time refunds will automatically reflect in the customers’ electric bills for 12 months. Therefore, the customers do not need to do anything to receive these refunds, as reported in an article in Yahoo Finance.READ ALSO: Pension Vs. 401(K): Pension May Be A Better Boost To U.S. Economy
Increase in Energy Prices
However, according to Weiss, apart from Consumer Energy’s one-time refunds, the MPSC also approved of a $155 million increase in energy prices for its customers. This means that there will be an increase of $2.10 per month which is a 2.06% increase. The customers are expected to have had experienced an increase in their monthly bills on January 19 last week. These increases in prices are reportedly expected to help with new technologies and other ways to protect the electrical grid.
In addition, MPSC has also allowed the Consumer Energy company to impose an additional charge to recuperate from the $6 million deferred distribution in 2021. Deferred distribution means that the company has prepaid expenses before they have actually received services or products. The Consumers Energy also added a $10 million budget to the contributions funded by shareholders. These contributions include programs that help those low-income customers who struggle to pay their energy bills.
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