Upper Michigan Energy Resources Corp. electricity rates

It is a smaller system, serving 33,252 residential customers, which means its fixed costs are spread across a narrow base. At 14.76¢ per kilowatt-hour it is one of the cheaper places to buy electricity in Michigan, 32.9% under the statewide average of 22.01¢.

Its customers use very little electricity by national standards, 561 kilowatt-hours a month against 871 nationally. Dense housing, a mild climate or heating that runs on gas rather than electricity all push consumption down, and any of them can leave a household with a modest bill despite a high rate.

A shareholder-owned company whose rates are set by the state regulator, including an approved return on the capital it has invested. That matters because a bill is not only the cost of generating electricity: it also carries the cost of the network, and who owns that network changes how it is paid for.

In 2024 the average Upper Michigan Energy Resources Corp. customer went 1,082 minutes without electricity across 1.71 interruptions. The median across the 941 utilities that report this is 185 minutes.

That is far worse than typical, and figures at this level almost always reflect a major storm season rather than everyday performance. A single hurricane or ice storm can dominate the annual number.

Upper Michigan Energy Resources Corp. offers time-of-use pricing to residential customers. 449 households were enrolled, about 1.4% of its residential base.

These plans are opt-in almost everywhere. They reward households that can move laundry, dishwashing, water heating or electric vehicle charging out of the late-afternoon peak, and they cost more than the standard rate for households that cannot. How to tell which group you are in.

81 residential customers had net-metered solar in 2024, totalling 0.47 megawatts. That works out to 2.4 installations per thousand customers, against a median of 8 across the utilities reporting it.

Adoption is below the national median. A low retail rate reduces what solar displaces, and export compensation set at avoided cost rather than the retail rate reduces it further. What exports are actually worth.