Got a paper mill in Michigan on DTE's D-6 general service rate paying about $42K/month. DTE is offering to move them to D-9 interruptible which would save roughly $8K monthly but requires 6-hour shutdown capability. Plant manager is nervous about production interruptions. What's everyone's experience with industrial interruptible programs?
Interruptible rate worth it for paper mill?
Paper mills are usually good candidates for interruptible if they can handle the downtime. DTE's D-9 program is pretty reasonable - they don't call interruptions that often, maybe 6-8 times per year. $96K annual savings is hard to pass up. Does the mill have backup generators or can they shift production schedules?
I'd be careful Mike. Paper mills have continuous processes that are expensive to restart. A client of mine in Wisconsin tried interruptible and the restart costs after each curtailment event ate up most of the savings. Make sure you factor in the true cost of shutdowns, not just lost production time.
Good points from both of you. Plant does have some production flexibility and a small backup system. Going to run the numbers on restart costs and see if we can negotiate a longer notice period with DTE. Thanks for the insights.