Manley Hot Springs surcharge would nearly triple under a filing before regulators

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 adjustment would rise 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 surcharge climbs.

Under PCE 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 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. The company's website notes that Interior winter temperatures are regularly below zero and says "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.

TDX Manley Generating filed a separate cost of power adjustment in February that added a new cost element for solar generation.

Similar quarterly filings have run through the year. Golden Valley Electric Association raised its cost of power 62 percent in June, and Matanuska Electric Association's adjustment added about $14.53 to a typical monthly bill.