MEA officials hoping knowledge is power

MAT-SU -- Matanuska Electric Association members may notice a change on their bills, and it's something MEA officials believe will help members understand more about the cooperative.

In the messages portion of MEA's bill, beginning in April, members can expect to see a breakdown of where their money goes. There are three portions on most bills -- how much is paid to MEA for "the cost of doing business," how much of the bill is paid to Chugach for "the cost of power" and how much is paid to the Regulatory Commission of Alaska "for state regulation."

For a bill in which 800 kilowatt hours is used, for example, $36.62 is paid to MEA, $46.94 is paid to Chugach and $0.25 is paid to RCA.

MEA spokesman Mike Pauley said its placement on the bill is partially due to upcoming power-supply contract negotiations with Chugach Electric Association.

"We are actually less than 20 months away from the time that we need to meet with Chugach," Pauley said. "The contract with Chugach Electric was negotiated in the late 1980s and … runs out in 2014."

MEA needs to have a power supply plan in place by 2007, so discussions are beginning to take shape now, he said.

"We've retained a power-supply consultant that will basically advise us," Pauley said. "It's the single most important decision management and members will grapple with …"

MEA government liaison Tuckerman Babcock said there's a reason the information is being printed on MEA bills now -- namely, the recent rate case Chugach brought before the Regulatory Commission of Alaska in which the commission denied a rate increase Chugach requested.

"The context made it really timely," Babcock said. "It's more than half the bill."

Pauley explained that Chugach receives about 59 percent of each MEA member's monthly payment.

"Ironically, that percentage has increased over the past few years because of MEA's rate reductions," Pauley said. In 1998, he said, Chugach's portion ran about 52 to 53 percent of an MEA members' bill.

Pauley added that their office often receives calls after announcing a rate decrease, from customers confused by where that decrease is going.

"[They say] I look at my bill and it doesn't look all that different," Pauley said. "When you break it down, that's, as Paul Harvey would say, the rest of the story."

Pauley said since 1996, Chugach's wholesale rates to MEA have increased by 20 percent. In that same time period, Pauley said, MEA's rates have decreased by 28 percent.

"In essence, what MEA has done with its rate reductions is, we have completely offset all of Chugach's rate increases, plus a little bit," Pauley said.