Forty-two dollars and twenty-seven cents. That's what Puerto Rico's regulator just added to a typical monthly light bill, starting today. This is Power Bill. Virginia takes out another fuel mortgage, Wisconsin and Indiana households get hikes penciled in for January, and Minnesota's shutoff shield goes up today, but only if you ask for it. We'll start in San Juan. Hit follow so tomorrow's episode finds you.
Metro Puerto Rico, reporting in Spanish:
Con el ajuste, la factura de un cliente residencial que consume 800 kWh al mes pasará de $228.59 a $270.86, un alza de $42.27, equivalente a un 18.5%.
In English: a household using 800 kilowatt-hours a month goes from $228.59 to $270.86. Forty-two twenty-seven more, eighteen and a half percent, on bills from today through December 31st. And that example is a customer with no subsidy. On September 25th the Energy Bureau said it couldn't approve LUMA's request until the LNG outage was explained. Wednesday it signed off, but trimmed it. LUMA wanted the fuel charge at about 18.07 cents a kilowatt-hour. The Bureau set it at 17.36, and cut the purchased-power charge, for a net increase of 5.28 cents. The reason is a $131.7 million gap between what fuel cost from June through August and what got billed. Here's what I'd underline. The Bureau held back about $17.6 million tied to New Fortress Energy's alleged gas supply failures, on top of $58 million deferred earlier, and ordered a full audit of New Fortress. And the order says, roughly translated, that fuel costs shouldn't pass automatically to the consumer just because they were incurred or billed. Lovely sentence. Still forty-two dollars. And that seventeen million is left out 'for now,' in the Bureau's own words. Deferred isn't forgiven.
Taylor Locke, writing for WTVR CBS 6 in Richmond:
Virginia ratepayers will help pay back $1 billion in unrecovered fuel costs under a bond plan approved by the State Corporation Commission on Tuesday, adding $10.23 to a typical Dominion Energy customer's monthly bill.
Ten twenty-three. That's $7.97 for the fuel and $2.26 a month just for the financing, over seven years. And Virginians are still paying off the last one, a $1.27 billion bond from 2023 that Delegate Irene Shin says won't be done until 2031. Dominion's case is that without the bond, the hit would've been nearly $22 a month. Fair as far as it goes. But the commission's own staff witness, Carol Myers, called the pattern of billion-dollar misses followed by bond requests dangerous for customers. And the Southern Environmental Law Center puts the fuel portion of a typical bill at about $43 a month, up from about $17 in 2020. Look at who the Attorney General's office blamed. Carew Bartley said the rapid addition of new large-load customers seems to be a primary driver of the higher fuel and purchased-power costs. Households finance the miss. With interest. The commission did order a root-cause analysis of why Dominion's forecasts missed. And this sits right next to the thirteen-dollar carbon charge Dominion's asking for, which still hasn't been approved.
From WBAY in Green Bay:
Wisconsin Public Service (WPS) is seeking approval from state regulators for a 15% rate increase for residential customers spread across the next two years. The proposed hike has drawn concern from local residents worried about rising household expenses.
WFRV in Green Bay has the monthly math: eleven dollars more on a residential electric bill in 2027, another five on top of that in 2028, and seven more a month on gas in 2027. A home with both is looking at about eighteen dollars a month more next year. Proposed, not approved. At Tuesday's hearings at the Neville Public Museum, most speakers opposed it. WPS's answer is that the filing already includes $132 million in savings through federal tax credits and earnings sharing. Then the governor's race showed up. Republican Tom Tiffany and Democrat David Crowley both say families shouldn't pay more, and both promise commissioners who'll put affordability first. Crowley's campaign says Tiffany voted to slash funding for the watchdog that fights rate hikes. Funding the people who argue against hikes is a political choice. Neither candidate gets the vote, though. The Public Service Commission does, with a final decision expected later this fall.
Shannon Germaine, writing in The Cool Down:
Customers are still seeing the increase roll out in two stages while the dispute remains unresolved. IURC spokesman Ben Gavelek said the first phase began July 27 and adds less than $1 a month for a household using 1,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity. AES Indiana estimates the second phase, scheduled for January, will add about $8.50 per month.
So Indianapolis households get the eight-fifty in January, and the hearing on whether this hike should've happened at all is set for early March. Pay first, argue later. The backstory is messy. The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission approved AES's $71 million increase in June, 3 to 1. Governor Mike Braun criticized it and told consumer counselor Abby Gray to pursue a review. Andy Zay, who was fired from the commission, says the request was on track to be denied before he was dismissed. The reconstituted commission voted 3 to 1 to revisit. And here's the detail that hits the bill. The consumer counselor's office didn't ask for a stay. So the rates keep rolling out, subject to refund if the order's overturned. 'Subject to refund' is a promise you collect after a winter of heating bills. If you're one of AES's more than half a million customers, hang on to this winter's statements.
Kate Jones, reporting for KEYC in Mankato:
Protection under the rule is not automatic. To avoid disconnection, customers must contact their utility provider immediately upon receiving a shutoff notice to establish a payment agreement based on household financial circumstances.
Minnesota's Cold Weather Rule starts today and runs through April 30th. Utilities can't disconnect your primary heating source. But hear that word: not automatic. You get the notice, you call, you set up the plan, and you keep it up. The dollar piece: for income-eligible households, monthly payments are capped at ten percent of household income. On thirty thousand a year, that's a ceiling of two hundred fifty a month. Renters are covered too, as long as the account's in their name and electricity or gas is the main heat source. And the households furthest behind are the ones with the least time to sit on hold. That's exactly who this rule is supposed to catch. So if a disconnection notice shows up, call your utility right away.
If you follow Power Bill, you might also like The Data Center Daily, a daily briefing on AI compute, hyperscaler capex, the power grid, semiconductor supply, and energy markets reshaped by intelligence at scale. Find it wherever you listen to podcasts.
On our watch list: Puerto Rico's new fuel charges run through December 31. Wisconsin regulators are expected to rule on WPS later this fall, and AES Indiana's second phase arrives in January, with its rehearing set for early March.
Links to every story are in the show notes, so dig into the ones that caught your attention. That's Power Bill for today. We'll be back tomorrow. This is a Lantern Podcast.