We are almost half way through what is becoming a very busy year. Local construction is picking up and energy is a hot topic in Lansing. Therefore, we are battling on every front to keep up while keeping our members informed. So, I thought I would take a minute to briefly go over some key questions members may be thinking about.

If area growth takes off, will rates go up?
Some ten years ago, we were adding 800 new homes to our system each year. While growth is picking up, I don’t believe we will see 400 new homes in 2015. Still, growth like this usually has the opposite effect on rates. The added sales are often enough to offset inflationary increases and thus very beneficial to keeping rates affordable.

Why is Wolverine building a gas plant in Gaylord, Michigan?
Over the past several years, Wolverine has unsuccessfully attempted 2 different coal plant projects in Michigan. Member growth has simply made it imperative that we own “steel in the ground” rather than be dependent on the market. After coal, natural gas is our next best option for reliable generation. Wolverine is also increasing its use of renewable generation and we need to be able to back it up when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine. A natural gas turbine will turn on and off more efficiently than any other form of generation.

Why are state legislators looking to eliminate energy conservation and renewable mandates?
It is my opinion that they are simply trying to prepare the state to be in the best possible position to comply with pending EPA clean air rules. If Michigan has a “clean air standard” that allows utilities to be flexible with their use of renewables and energy conservation, the state will be in a better position to comply with the federal government. Some utilities are better suited for conservation while others can more easily add renewable energy. Therefore, making everyone comply with the same numbers may not be the best way to achieve our overall goals.

What is SmartHub?
It is an “app” for your smartphone. It allows you to report an outage, look at daily electricity usage, pay your bill and read co-op news. We do realize that some people don’t have smart phones but we also know that the number of members who do is on the rise. When a large outage occurs, we can never answer thousands of calls each hour. However, SmartHub allows us to electronically take thousands of outage reports an hour. When there are no outages, members are using it daily to keep track of their energy use in order to become more aware of where they might be able to save some energy.

With talk of coal plants shutting down all over the country, should we be worried about rates going up?
This is an emphatic, “NO”. Wolverine has done a great job of proactively preparing a generation portfolio that will bring us affordable power for at least the next 8-10 years. We will see some small increases over this time but we will not be “captive” to rising power costs on the open market.

If you have any other questions, please never hesitate to ask them. My direct line at my desk is 486-9214 and I can be reached via email     at [email protected]. I am happy to have a dialogue with anyone and in fact, I look forward to member questions and insights of all kinds.