4.1. ERMUSR 07-13-2010 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

~~ News Re%ase UTILITIES ANNOUNCE NEW RESOURCE PLANNING COALITION Joint planning is an economic and effective step in managing customers' electric rates FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE MEDIA CONTACT June 16, 2010 Lori Frisk-Thompson 507-526-2193 Blue Earth, MN -The Central Minnesota Municipal Power Agency (CMMPA), Upper Midwest Municipal Power Agency, Nashwauk Public Utilities Commission, Elk River Municipal Utilities, Willmar Municipal Utilities, Dahlberg Light and Power Company, Northwestern Wisconsin Electric Company and North Central Power Co., Inc., announce the formation of a Resource Planning Coalition. The Coalition will conduct power supply planning for the Participants to look at their aggregate long term resource needs. The Coalition then intends to go out for an aggregated Request For Proposal (RFP) in early fall to find resources to serve the power supply needs of each of the individual participants. Collectively the Coalition will be looking for up to 700 MWs of base load, intermediate and peaking resources, including both long term purchases and project ownership opportunities, to supply their aggregated needs for the next 5 to 30 year [imeframe. "We are very pleased that the Participants are willing to work together to seek options for their individual and mutual benefit and to achieve economies of scale in such activities," said Bruce Gomm, Willmar Municipal Utilities General Manager and the Chairman of the Resource Planning Coalition Coordinating Committee. "Our collective goal is to find the best long term, stable prices possible for the retail customers we serve " According to Steve Thompson, Deputy CEO of CMMPA, "CMMPA will be acting as the Coalition Project Manager and will manage the Planning and RFP evaluation process. We will analyze and assess the power supply needs of the individual Participants and identify the optimal resource mix which results in the "least cost plan" for each of the participants." About the Participants CMMPA is a joint action agency of twelve municipally-owned member utilities located in south central Minnesota. CMMPA's twelve member cities serve more than 20,000 retail customers. CMMPA is aproject-oriented agency and manages the power supply portfolios on behalf of its Members providing future Power Supply Planning and Procurement Services and MISO Market Scheduling Services. CMMPA was created in 1987 under Minnesota Statutes, Sections 453.51 through 453.61. For more information, visit www.cmmpa.org. Upper Midwest Municipal Power Agency (UMMPA) is a municipal power agency with members in Iowa (four), Minnesota (two) and Wisconsin (ten). The Agency was formed in 2005 under Iowa law to investigate and implement a cost effective and reliable power supply program for its members. UMMPA's sixteen member cities serve more than 17,000 retail customers.