The Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) quickly approved aproposal by MichCon to implement a three-year plan to offer its 1.2million residential and commercial gas customers the opportunity toselect alternative natural gas suppliers. The plan also cuts andfreezes gas costs for customers who stay with MichCon as their gasprovider.

The project will extend and expand MichCon’s existing customerchoice pilot, in which 50,000 customers in Grand Rapids wereoffered the opportunity to choose alternative suppliers. The newMichCon Select program will begin systemwide next January with acap at 75,000 participants, or 10 Bcf of gas. The following year itwould be expanded to a 150,000 customer cap, or 20 Bcf. And in thethird year, the cap would be raised to 225,000, or 30 Bcf/year ofthroughput. There would be an 18-week enrollment period, whichwould run Jan. 1-May 15 each year.

The plan also would reduce MichCon’s regulated gas costs by 7%to $2.95/Mcf and freeze them for three years for those customerswho continue to use the utility as their gas provider. In addition,the proposal provides an incentive for MichCon to reduce itspurchased gas cost below the $2.95 level and share a portion ofsavings with customers if MichCon’s earnings exceed a prescribedreturn on its equity capital.

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