WHY is the Wholesale Power Cost “Rider” increasing so rapidly?
• The single biggest factor: A decrease in its revenues from selling electricity to other utilities. In 2008, the market’s need for excess energy was reduced dramatically, due to cooler than normal summer weather. This reduced GRE’s non-member revenues considerably. • Increased cost of fuel: The cost of fuel and other commodities, such as gasoline, diesel fuel, natural gas, propane, steel and concrete, hit GRE hard. These costs had a negative impact on GRE’s power plant operations in 2008. • Power plant outage: Coal Creek Station, GRE’s largest and lowest-cost power plant, experienced a mechanical failure earlier this year and was forced to take a two-week unscheduled shutdown. The power GRE purchased in the marketplace to replace the lost Coal Creek generation cost GRE more than $8 million. • The impact of wind: GRE has added 200 megawatts of wind energy, but adding wind energy requires other types of generation to back it up, because the wind doesn’t always blow. This “overlapping” i
