What is this Emergency Power Cost Adjustment (also known as Emergency Cost of Power Adjustment or ECOPA)?
Electric customers pay rates that cover the cost of providing their service. AEL&P’s normal rate structures are based on the cost of using water to turn the turbines to make electricity. Now that diesel is needed to turn the turbines, the cost of providing electric service goes from the base price of rain water as fuel (zero fuel cost), to the cost of diesel, which is currently about $4.00/gallon. Every utility has a Power Cost Adjustment to adjust rates according to changes in the fuel cost over/under the base rate cost of fuel.
