GREEN BAY, Wis., Feb. 12 /PRNewswire/ — Wisconsin Public Service Corporation, a subsidiary of Integrys Energy Group (NYSE:TEG) , today filed a request with the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin to increase electric rates about 90 cents per month for typical residential customers due to much higher than expected fuel costs to generate or purchase electricity.
“Our costs were significantly higher in January than we included in rates and we expect that to continue through part of 2008,” said Public Service Manager of Electric Fuel Cost Recovery John Guntlisbergen. “If fuel costs vary significantly higher or lower than indicated in rates, we are expected to approach the Commission to either increase the base rates or reduce them.”
Contributing factors for the request include increased purchased power costs due to a later start-up of the new Weston 4 power plant, increased coal and coal transportation costs, and increased natural gas costs. Previously, Public Service projected that the Weston 4 plant had a chance to begin generating start-up electricity in January 2008. While our assumption turned out to be optimistic, the project is still on schedule with a commercial operation date of June 2008 and will create significant savings in power costs when it does begin generating.
About Wisconsin Public Service Corporation:
Wisconsin Public Service Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Integrys Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:TEG) , is an investor-owned electric and natural gas utility headquartered in Green Bay, Wisconsin. It serves approximately 420,000 electric customers and 309,000 retail natural gas customers in residential, agricultural, industrial, and commercial markets, as well as wholesale customers. The company’s service area includes northeastern and central Wisconsin, as well as an adjacent portion of Upper Michigan. Information is available online at http://www.wisconsinpublicservice.com/.
