State's largest wind farm gets OK

The Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSCW) recently approved our revised plan to construct Glacier Hills Wind Park in Columbia County, Wis. When completed, Glacier Hills will be the largest wind farm in Wisconsin. 

The revised plan changes the distance between wind turbines and homes of non-participating residents from 1,000 to 1,250 feet.

Site preparation and foundation work could begin as early as this week. The 90-turbine wind farm is expected to be completed by late 2011 and generate 162 megawatts of power--enough to power 45,000 typical homes.

Visit our website to get more information about the project.

Winter was kind to natural gas heating customers

A warm winter and a cool economy combined to keep natural gas prices low during the past heating season. 

Our typical customer paid less for heating this winter than all but one other winter in the past decade. 

For the six-month heating season that ended April 30, heating costs for a typical customer were $625, down 26 percent or $220 from $845 in the winter of 2008-2009. The lowest heating season of the past decade was 2001–2002 when the average residential customer’s heating bill was $469.

Unusually mild weather in March and April was one factor. The other was price. Abundant natural gas supplies and reduced demand due to the weather and the economy helped keep natural gas prices low.

Most customers realized those savings in the month they occurred, but customers who use budget billing saw prices adjusted downward twice last year. Recently, an increase was made to budget billing based on forecasts of a return to normal weather this summer and next winter.

In a report this week, the Energy Information Administration issued a forecast saying that natural gas prices will be a bit higher over the coming months compared with a year ago. But prices are still forecast to be well below the elevated prices of natural gas seen in 2008, when gasoline, crude oil and natural gas prices all soared.