MILFORD, Del, - The City of Milford has detailed the upcoming power cost Adjustment that will be beginning in October.
The City of Milford, which has a community electric utility powered by the Delaware Municipal Electric Corporation (DEMEC), will be raising the current Power Cost Adjustment by $0.00804 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) for a total of $0.012. The City says customers will see this increase on their November City of Milford utility bills.
According to The City, the increase in price is mostly due to regulation that required the Indian River Power Station in Dagsboro, DE to continue running for reliability purposes after it filed to shut down. They say that these regulations effect all electric customers in Delaware, and will continue for four and a half years.
The City says passthrough results in a 6.2 percent increase in electric bills for the average household and small business in Milford. They say larger businesses in Milford can expect an increase ranging from about 5.9 to 7.9 percent depending on demand, load factor, seasonality, and time of use.
According to the City, even after this cost increase, customers are paying less than they were five years ago. They also say their rates are the third lowest in the state of Delaware, behind the City of Lewes and the City of New Castle.
“DEMEC exercises every strategy at its disposal to reduce and stabilize power costs, improve power supply diversity, and mitigate the impact of ancillary costs in power markets on behalf of its members, including the City of Milford,” Finance Director Lou Vitola said, “but reliability requirements driven by grid operator PJM and supported by Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) regulations carry with them unforeseen cost impacts that are not associated with day-to-day power delivery, but which nonetheless flow to end users of electricity.”
The City says that neither they nor DEMEC get power supplied by the Dagsboro plant, but the the decision by PJM Interconnection, which coordinates the movement of electricity across the wholesale power grid in 13 states, to stop the closure of the the Dagsboro coal-fired power station is impacting the City's electric rates and rates across the entire Delmarva Peninsula.
According to DEMEC’s 2021 Annual Report, “Currently, 90 percent of DEMEC’s power supply comes from low to no carbon emission resources. That means electric customers in our member communities are already benefiting from our environmentally focused shift in energy resources, like solar and wind. Since 2005, DEMEC has reduced its carbon footprint by 50 percent through our commitment to sustainable energy sources and energy reduction programs.”
To help offset this increase, the City encourages customers to utilize Efficiency Smart (https://www.efficiencysmart.org/milford-delaware) for rebates and an electric usage monitor, insulating windows, purchasing a water heater jacket, utilizing the City’s budget plan and servicing their HVAC system. Reducing your household energy consumption by just 2.2 kWh per day will completely offset this rate adjustment.
Questions regarding utility billing or the upcoming PCA can be directed to the City’s Customer Service Department at 302-422-6616.