Otter Tail Power Company has filed its “Generation Resource Recovery” rate for its North Dakota customers.
It’s an annual filing with the North Dakota Public Service Commission.
PSC chairman Brian Kroshus said for a homeowner using 1000 kilowatt hours of electricity, the monthly bill would go up by $2.70. For commercial customers, using 400,000 kilowatt hours per month, the bill would be $675 higher.
Kroshus said this filing includes the Astoria Gas Plant in South Dakota, which, paired with the Merricourt Wind Facility in North Dakota, will replace the old Hoot Lake coal plant in Fergus Falls, Minnesota.
"The retirement for Hoot Lake is in 2021," Kroshus said. "It's a 1950s era coal fired plant, with the coal coming from the Powder River Basin (Wyoming)."
Kroshus said Otter Tail wants to have this in place by July.
The PSC suspended the rate, to see if anyone wants a hearing on it.