October 2009
www.misec.org
Inside This Issue:
President
Jim Hilgendorf, Superintendent, Johannesburg-Lewiston Schools
Past President
Michael Dewey, Superintendent, Bay-Arenac ISD
Vice President
Robert Brady, Associate Director Business Services, Waterford School District
Mitch Bart, Director of Facilities, Kent ISD
Ken Simon, Facilities Manager, Ingham ISD
Pam Smart, Business Office Supervisor, Van Buren
Public Schools
John Stoner, Director of Facilities, Operations & Transportation, Rochester Community Schools
Secretary/Treasurer
Ray Telman, Executive Director,
MCEA
Ex-officio Member To The Executive Committee
David Martell, Executive Director,
MSBO
MISEC Reduces Energy Costs $5.4 million in 2009
A falling energy market, primarily due to a dramatic reduction in commercial and industrial demand, coupled with rising utility rates resulted in MISEC being able to reduce our members' electric rates by a record $5.4 million. As utility rates continue to rise, we wholeheartedly expect this trend to continue into 2010.
Taking into account our 2009 savings, MISEC has reduced its members' electric costs by in excess of $45 million since 2001.
We are in the final stretch of gathering all of the approved Interlocal Agreements and Board Resolutions necessary to implement this program.
Hopefully by now your District has approved these documents and has forwarded them to MISEC. If you have not or have questions concerning this process, please contact Doug McCall at 517-492-1380 as soon as possible so we can get this exciting program moving forward.
Consumers Energy to Increase Natural Gas Rate
On October 16, 2009, Consumers Energy informed the Michigan Public Service Commission that it would implement an interim increase of $89 million effective for service rendered on and after November 19, 2009 unless the Commission orders otherwise. The interim request is approximately 78% of the $114 million requested by Consumers in their General Rate Case Application filed earlier this year. Based upon documents filed by Consumers, the interim increase will average ~ 16.5%.
Please note that this increase is only on the distribution component of their rates. The distribution portion represents ~ 25% of your overall gas costs, therefore the overall effective increase would be ~ 4% of your total natural gas costs.
Natural gas: Gasoline is sold in gallons, coal in pounds, wood in cords. Natural gas is sold in cubic feet. To compare all of these different sources a common unit of measure is used - British Thermal Unit or (Btu.)
One Btu is the amount of heat energy needed to raise one pound of water one degree Fahrenheit. Natural gas is sold in standard volume measurements of thousands of cubic feet (Mcf) or one hundred cubic feet (Ccf) units.
When you add the energy component to the volume you get the measured Btu equivalent.
Electricity: Power is the rate (time) of doing work. A watt is a measure of the electric power. All electric equipment requires a certain number of watts to operate correctly.
A kilowatt is a thousand watts. A kilowatt-hour is the amount of electricity used in one hour at the rate of 1000 watts. Utilities can charge by both the kilowatt (demand) and kilowatt-hour (amount.) Utilities also use megawatts and gigawattts to measure large amounts of electricity. Power plants are typically measured in megawatts.
MISEC is the largest school energy cooperative in the country and is operated by an independent board that includes superintendents and school business officials elected by its member districts.
Partners:
