The Lansing Board of Water & Light (BWL) Board of Commissioners will hold a public hearing to review a proposed rate increase tonight, Tuesday, August 20 at 5:30pm at the BWL REO Depot 1201 S. Washington Ave., Lansing. If approved at a Special Board Meeting on Tuesday, August 27 at 5:30pm, the rate increase will go into effect on October 1, 2024 and outlines a two-year rate strategy to allow customers to plan for future increases. 

“These increases are to ensure we continue to provide the safe and reliable utility services our customers have come to expect, but they’re also necessary to support BWL’s clean energy goals,” said BWL Chief Financial Officer Heather Shawa. “Reliable, cleaner energy is the absolute right thing to do for our community, but that comes at an increased cost. We have big goals of serving our customers with 50 percent renewable energy by 2030 and being carbon neutral by 2040, and these rate increases support part of that success while also complying with Michigan’s new clean energy laws. 

“We’ve managed to keep our rate increases below the cost of inflation, while also proudly being one of the most reliable utility companies in the State of Michigan,” said Shawa. “The rate making process is thorough and makes sure we can continue to regularly maintain and upgrade our infrastructure.” 

Proposed rate increases for each utility are as follows:

• Average Electric Rate Increase: 6.95% for 2024 and 6.00% for 2025

• Residential: 7.8% increase for 2024 and 6.8% in 2025
• This will result in a financial impact per month for an average 500 kWh usage customer of $7.02 as of Oct. 2024 and $6.56 as of Oct. 2025

• Average Water Rate Increase: 9.23% for 2024 and 9.16% for 2025

• Residential: 9.5% in 2024 and 9.2% in 2025
• This will result in a financial impact per month for an average 5 CCF usage customer is $3.93 as of Oct. 2024 and $4.22 as of Oct. 2025

• Steam rate increase: 9.75% for 2024 and 2025 (mostly commercial customers)
• Chilled Water rate increase: 2% for 2024 and 1.50% for 2025 (all commercial customers) 

The rate increases for 2024 would result in an increase of $20.3 million for electric, $5.0 million for water, $1.0 million for steam and $90,000 for chilled water. 

“We understand rate increases can be difficult for some of our customers, and we take them very seriously. That’s why we continue to offer flexible payment arrangements and our bi-annual Community Resource Fair to connect people to resources and dollars available to help them if they’re struggling,” said BWL General Manager Dick Peffley (left). 

The next BWL Community Resource Fair will be on Wednesday, October 2 from 2-6pm at the Alfreda Schmidt Community Center, 5825 Wise Rd., Lansing. Click here for more information. 

The BWL has approximately 100,000 electric customers, 58,000 water customers, 155 steam customers and 19 chilled water customers. 

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