The Trenton City Council was informed Monday night that the municipal utilities will absorb the additional expense when generators were used during the “energy emergency” during the cold weather in the four days before Christmas.
The price per megawatt hour was $62 dollars, compared to $48 dollars per megawatt hour in the previous month. During the four December days, Trenton Municipal’s hourly peak load reached fifteen point seven megawatts (15,700 KW). Two of the nights (Dec 22 & 23) saw the Trenton low temperature fall below zero and there was one day (Dec 22) when the high was one below. There was a stretch of seven December days when Trenton temperatures remained below freezing.
Utility Board Chairman Duane Urich told the council the increased cost will be absorbed by TMU rather than passed on to the customers.
Utility Director Ron Urton said when TMU generates power, the city is billed at the Missouri Public Energy pool price. Trenton and many other municipalities are members of the pool. The city receives “credit” for generating power which he noted helps to cover the cost of diesel fuel and labor. Urton noted with TMU billed at $62 per megawatt hour, it was credited with about $285 per megawatt hour.
By comparison, the extreme cold weather event in February of 2021, which ran for several days, saw Trenton billed then at $164 per megawatt hour.
