Posted on 08/10/2016 9:36:41 PM PDT by Ray76
Some Central Iowa business owners are shaking their heads over hefty increases in their monthly electric bills, but MidAmerican Energy Co. officials say they're doing all they can to help their customers keep their bills as low as possible.
Last year, MidAmerican Energy began phasing in a three-year increase in electricity rates for its Iowa customers, the second phase of which kicked in on Jan. 1 of this year. The rate case, which was approved by the Iowa Utilities Board a year ago, authorized MidAmerican to increase its electric rates by a total of $135.6 million, phased in through approximately equal incremental increases of $45.2 million over three years.
Julie Lilly, owner of Montana Mike's Steakhouse in Des Moines, said her restaurant's electricity bill increased between 25 and 40 percent per month during the peak summer cooling season last year. On average, she said she is paying between $300 and $400 more per month on her bill, which she believes is far beyond the 6.29 percent average annual increase that MidAmerican had estimated for her business.
"I can't raise my menu prices by 40 percent to cover this," she said.
The increase hit some commercial customers in Central Iowa particularly hard due to a change in how businesses that pull a heavy load of electricity are charged "demand" rates, said Terry Ousley, MidAmerican's vice president of customer satisfaction.
A piece of good news this year for electric customers: MidAmerican has begun phasing in a rate reduction tied to its Wind VIII wind energy project that will shave $3.3 million off electric rates this year, $6.6 million next year and then $10 million annually in 2017 and beyond.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessrecord.com ...
Customer rate credit of $3.3m to begin in 2015, followed by rate credits of $6.6m in 2016 and $10m in 2017 (page 7)
MidAmerican put itself in position to obtain Federal Production Tax Credits for additional wind generation in late 2013 through the safe harbor method (page 10)
http://www.midamericanenergyempoweru.com/support/pdf/2014-presentations/EMPOWER-U-2014-Wind.pdf
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(ed. Where is the Wind VII project located?)
In 2013 MEC (Midamerican Energy Co.)detailed the impact that the massive Wind VIII expansion program would have for Iowa. With the 502-MW Highland project now being the largest wind farm in Iowa, other wind farms were built in Webster, Grundy, Madison and Marshall Counties from 2013 to 2015.
http://www.chronicletimes.com/story/2279184.html
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(2013) Warren Buffett-owned company plans to use federal wind subsidies
A subsidiary of the Warren Buffett-owned MidAmerican Energy Holdings is looking to capitalize on federal tax subsidies by installing 448 wind turbines across five Iowa counties in order to generate up to 1,050 megawatts of power by 2015.
http://dailycaller.com/2013/08/13/warren-buffett-owned-company-plans-to-use-federal-wind-subsidies/
The 448 turbines will be erected at locations in Grundy, Madison, Marshall, O’Brien and Webster counties
http://qctimes.com/news/state-and-regional/iowa/mid-american-to-build-wind-farms-in-iowa-counties/article_000e930a-3ab9-5b32-9491-155cbbd7067d.html
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All I know is my electric bill was over $200 for last month. I do believe that’s a new record. I turned the AC down a few degrees.
Part of a series of five posts:
To Get Wind Power You Need Oil
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3458518/posts
Reliability of Renewable Energy: Wind
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3458519/posts
Deep De-Carbonization Would Increase Electricity Costs 20–90 Percent, Says J.P. Morgan
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3458520/posts
Electricity Prices Soaring In Top Wind Power States
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3458521/posts
MidAmerican Energy customers rattled by electric rate hike
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3458522/posts
What is the price per kWh? Like 13 or 14 cents?!? All I can say is “boo-hoo”...here in Central Kali I averaged 21.85 cents per kWh!(1035 kWh cost $226.11) (”tier system” 18.2 ->40 cents per kWh). Government meddling is getting outrageous out here!
http://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.cfm?t=epmt_5_6_a
So they’ll get federal taxpayers to pay for it instead.
I agree, that we could be so lucky
You’re seeing the benefit of that free wind power on your utility bill. We call these “government instituted price reductions.”
Two years ago, Berkshire’s CEO, Warren Buffett, explained why his companies are in the wind business. “We get a tax credit if we build a lot of wind farms. That’s the only reason to build them,” he said. “They don’t make sense without the tax credit.”
Yeah, same for "free solar energy" out here...at least with nuclear the price went down or stayed stable. Remember "too cheap to meter"?!?
All part of the lefts war on America. We won’t bend over and take it, so they will bleed us dry.
Just yeasterday afternoon, Hillary was in Iowa touting the wonderful “green” energy of Iowa. They call it green energy, because it is fueled by money. Looks like part of the bill is coming due.
And the people cheered.
Obama’s plan worked as he said it would
People are not cheering anymore.
LOL, funny but if the government wasn't demanding the over regulation of nuclear, it would be a damn sight cheaper than it is.
Wind is a maintenance nightmare and solar is also very expensive for the amount of power produced.
Those windmills are a huge part of the increasing cost of electricity. The capital cost to build them is shifted to consumers and a large part of the time they sit idle hand generate no electricity. Wind power is not reliable and standby fossil fuel plants will always be needed to kick I when the wind isn’t blowing. Wind is a very costly way to generate electricity. However Obama said that electric rates will necessarily skyrocket.o
But I though that Iowa was getting so much “free” energy from wind that it was a model for other states?
I’d think I died and went to Heaven if I got a $200 electric bill in the summer. Ours was $514. And that is after we had all the doors and windows replaced last year with dual pane glass and a new supposedly energy efficient air conditioner.
Where do you live? A 50-room mansion in hell?
You got the hell part right. Lol. California. 2000 sq ft house. We pay more for everything here.
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