Manley Hot Springs power surcharge would nearly triple under TDX filing

Electric customers in Manley Hot Springs would pay a cost-of-power surcharge nearly three times higher starting Sept. 1 under a rate filing TDX Manley Generating submitted to the Regulatory Commission of Alaska. The proposed adjustment rises from $0.2961 per kilowatt-hour to $0.8157.

The Power Cost Equalization level does not move. It stays at the fiscal year 2026 statutory maximum of $0.7424 per kilowatt-hour, so the state credit holds steady while the proposed surcharge climbs.

Under Power Cost Equalization rules summarized in an Alaska Renewable Energy Project guide to Alaska Energy Authority program rules, eligible customers pay at least 19.10 cents per kilowatt-hour plus any difference between the PCE amount and the utility's base rates. Residential credit is limited to 750 kilowatt-hours a month. Community facilities as a group are eligible up to 70 kilowatt-hours a month times the community population.

The filing, TA201-72, covers the quarterly cost of power adjustment, the PCE level and the small facility power purchase rate for the period beginning Sept. 1. The commission is reviewing it.

TDX Power Group bought the Manley utility and its generation facility in 2008. On its website, the company says winter temperatures in Alaska's Interior are regularly below zero and that "people in Manley Hot Springs depend on us to keep the lights and heat on." The Alaska Energy Authority says the PCE program exists because rural electricity can cost three to five times what urban customers pay.

Manley's PCE amount was 24.24 cents per kilowatt-hour in the commission's 2004 program report, under the utility's prior owner. TDX Manley Generating filed a separate cost of power adjustment in February adding a new cost element for solar generation. Alaska News has covered a run of similar quarterly filings this year, including Golden Valley Electric Association's 62 percent cost of power increase in June and Matanuska Electric Association's adjustment that added about $14.53 to a typical monthly bill.

The new rates are set to take effect Sept. 1, pending the commission's review.