Members of the Presque Isle Electric & Gas Co-op can expect to see a $20 per month increase on their electric bills starting this fall.
The rate hike was approved during PIE&G’s member regulation meeting in Onaway on Tuesday morning and is directly connected to March’s devastating ice storm.
In the early days of the storm, nearly all PIE&G’s 35,000 members across nine counties in northern Michigan were thrown offline.
PIE&G President and CEO Allan Berg told WCMU the co-op has accrued around $100 million in costs as a direct result of the unprecedented weather event.
The nonprofit co-op has since taken on several emergency loans to pay for recovery and restoration efforts and now have interest payments between $7-8 million. Berg said the final number on that interest is hard to determine as they continue to accrue costs from clearing debris and replacing damaged infrastructure.
“The $20 per location or per electric meter does align with the dollars needed to pay the interest and recover,” Berg said. “But as it's eclipsing $100 million and as we're forecasting this, we're in a position to start to look at what we have to do to pay our bills [and] maintain financial stability.”
In five counties across northeast Michigan, the average annual household income is $51,114, according to U.S. Census Data. Presque Isle County has the highest average with $56,713 and Montmorency County has the lowest average with $47,803. Other counties, including Alcona, Alpena and Oscoda counties, average around $52,000 a year.
“People will have a fit about it,” said Pam Assemany, a co-op member from Atlanta who pays close to $100 a month for electricity from PIE&G.
“For them to do a $20 rate hike on meters, that’s a lot,” she added.
As a nonprofit member-owned cooperative, PIE&G is eligible for financial aid through the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Berg said he is hopeful that federal and state aid could bring financial relief to the co-op and its members.
“We definitely understand how these types of [rate increases] are challenging and imposes a hardship on many of our members and our community,” Berg said. “It is our goal to actively work to secure federal assistance to help mitigate this.”
Whether federal funding and additional state resources will come through is still up in the air. Berg added that the co-op would adjust if they receive state and federal relief.
"There's no profit motivation," Berg said. "If there's excess at some point in the future, we of course would take that news when we know it and we would act accordingly."
On April 11, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer requested a Presidential Emergency Declaration in response to the ice storm. If approved by President Donald Trump, the declaration would unlock $5 million in public assistance in debris cleanup and emergency efforts.
The emergency declaration does not provide individual assistance for residents or public assistance for local and tribal governments through FEMA.
But in May, Whitmer officially submitted a Major Disaster Declaration to the White House, seeking millions more in funding support from FEMA to help people pay for damage to homes, businesses and property.
In a letter to Trump, all members of Michigan’s Congressional delegation, made up of seven Republicans and eight Democrats, are urging the president to sign off on the declaration. They wrote that federal support is “desperately needed” because state and local resources “have been expended.”
The White House has yet to decide on both emergency declarations.
“It is my hope that federal assistance becomes available to help our local electric cooperatives regain financial stability without having to pass additional costs on to already burdened members,” said state Representative Cam Cavitt (R-Cheboygan).
Cavitt voted in favor of a House bill that would unlock $100 million in state aid to northern Michigan counties impacted by the ice storm. The bill would provide the necessary matching funds needed for additional federal support and is still waiting for a floor vote in the state Senate.
PIE&G estimates that cleanup efforts are expected to continue across the region through late summer or early fall. The co-op is reminding people to exercise caution when around any damaged electrical equipment including:
- Never touch or move utility equipment or debris — even if it looks harmless
- Always treat downed power lines as live
- Avoid trees or standing water near power lines
- Leave all repairs to qualified professionals
You can visit pieg.com/debris-cleanup for the latest information.
WCMU’s Blace Carpenter contributed reporting to this story.
