PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) – Customers in eastern South Dakota who buy electricity from Otter Tail Power Company will be paying about 2.3 percent more on their bills starting this fall.
The state Public Utilities Commission this week ordered that Otter Tail could collect more.
The commission accepted its staff’s recommendation of a smaller amount than originally requested by the Fergus Falls, Minnesota-based company.
The additional revenue will help the company pay for two projects: An electricity-generation plant near Astoria, South Dakota, that will be fueled by natural gas; and a new wind farm south of Edgeley, North Dakota.
Those new developments will offset the company’s plan to shut down its coal-fired plant at Hoot Lake, Minnesota, on the Otter Tail River in 2021.
An outside consultant hired by the commission staff agreed the new projects would cost less to build than making improvements at Hoot Lake.
The increases take effect September 1. The company’s revised rate sheet shows a range depending on usage.
Commissioner Chris Nelson noted during the meeting Wednesday that the company’s revenue requirement decreased from the original filing to the supplemental filing.
Nelson wanted to know why the average residential customer would pay more under the supplemental filing than under the original filing.
“That amount was incorrect,” said Bryce Haugen, senior rate analyst for the company.
Commission staff analyst Pat Steffensen agreed there had been an error. The complete docket is on the commission website.