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What's Next

Tony Anderson

With member regulation comes change and added responsibility.

On April 13, from 4 to 7 p.m., and again on April 20, from 9 to 10 am., the Cherryland board and management took public comment on the matter of becoming member regulated.

As most of you are likely aware by now, after taking this input, the board did vote unanimously to become member regulated for rates and billing rules. So, this begs the question: "What will change and what will stay the same?"

What will be changing?

As we explained previously, rates will be changing at the end of summer or early fall. We have our audit done and are now working on future revenue requirements. We have many numbers to "crunch" and are hopeful that the increase, our first since January 1, 2006, will be less than 5 percent.

I know some of you think I have beat the rate increase warning to death and others think we became member regulated just to raise rates every year. While I am hesitant to use "proud" and "increase" in the same sentence, I will take some satisfaction in the fact that whatever the increase is, it will be single digits.

It is not an easy task in this economy to go without an increase for almost four years and still keep the extra digits at bay. One thing I will remain proud of is the fact that I am telling you about a rate "increase" and not a rate "adjustment." There are some marketing textbooks that point out slick ways to give any news a positive spin. Everyone at Cherryland agrees that is not the book we want to read from.

The fact is, it will be an increase and not an up tick, adjustment, variation, change, or surcharge. If it walks like a duck and smells like a duck, you can count on us to call it a duck.

Members will be notified of a public meeting at which the board will vote on the specific numbers. The notice will appear in this magazine or as an insert in your bill. Before the board votes, members will have the opportunity to ask questions and give their input. We will have both morning and evening input sessions so that everyone has an opportunity to comment.

Under Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) regulation, all meetings involving a rate increase were held in Lansing. I believe strongly that holding public meetings to discuss our rates locally is a big improvement over the old system.

What is staying the same?

Our billing rules and procedures will not be changing in 2009. Therefore, when you go to cherrylandelectric.com, you will find rates and regulatory under the "electric" tab. This link will take you to the MPSC website, where you will find over 140 pages of rates and rules in all their glorious detail. If you don’t have a computer, we keep a copy in our office for your review at any time.

In the future, when we make changes to these rules, this link will change to one that we control in-house on our server and the MPSC link will disappear. You will also receive notice of any new billing rule, either in this magazine or a bill stuffer.

I have talked about the added responsibilities for your board and management under member regulation, but there is also at least one important change for the members. This involves all the members paying attention to the Cherryland pages in this monthly magazine and any inserts found in monthly bills. These are the most cost-effective ways for us to inform the membership about future changes and they will be used on a regular basis under member regulation.

Being aware of what is next involves proper communication from us and proper attention from you. Local control, attention and communication will keep us all on the same page. What’s next really means staying tuned to these pages every month.

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