earth birds eye view

EPA greenhouse gas reporting and emission rates
March 2024


The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) mandatory national greenhouse gas (GHG) reporting program requires regulated natural gas utilities, and some of their largest customers, to report GHG emissions from their operations. The EPA website includes resources to understand the rule and an online tool to see if it applies to your company.

Electric utility energy mix and emission rates

This electric energy mix and emission rate information is provided for retail electric customers of Upper Michigan Energy Resources Corporation (UMERC), a regulated utility subsidiary of WEC Energy Group (WEC) operating in the state of Michigan. The emission rates are supplied for customers to estimate their environmental footprint from electric energy supplied by UMERC, such as Scope 2 (indirect) greenhouse gas emissions.

Emission rates are calculated using total emissions and megawatt-hours from generation by owned facilities. The emission rates apply to UMERC’s retail electric utility customers, except for customers of Energy for Tomorrow® or NatureWise®, renewable energy programs that are offered to UMERC’s retail electric customers.

Emissions from electric generation facilities are calculated in accordance with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program regulations under 40 CFR Part 98. The energy resource mix represents net generation from UMERC-owned facilities.

WEC and UMERC reserve the right to use all or some of the environmental attributes associated with generation from renewable energy sources in future years to comply with renewable energy standards or other regulatory requirements, or to sell to third parties the environmental attributes such as renewable energy credits, offsets, allowances and the avoided emissions of greenhouse gases. All information is provided on a voluntary basis, could be subject to change, and has not received independent third party verification. Neither WEC nor UMERC makes any assurances regarding the use of this information by external parties for marketing or other sustainability claims.

Upper Michigan Energy Resources Corporation energy mix and emissions 1

  2021 2022 20232
Emission rates (lbs/MWh)
Carbon dioxide (CO2) 1,106 1,115 1,126
Methane (CH4) 0.021 0.021 0.021
Nitrous oxide (N2O) 0.002 0.002 0.002
Carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e)3 1,107 1,116 1,127
Sulfur dioxide (SO2) 0.01 0.01 0.01
Nitrogen oxides (NOx) 0.18 0.21 0.18
Energy resource mix: Retail customers
Energy from owned generation (MWh) 767,814 719,750 701,337
Natural gas 99.9% 99.9% 100.0%
Renewable Energy 0.1% 0.1% <0.1%
Biofuels 0.1% 0.1% <0.1%
Solar <0.1% <0.1% <0.1%

1 Table includes data for purchased power arrangements that were not included in previously available emissions data.
2 Rates for 2023 are preliminary and subject to change after regulatory reporting.
3 Global warming potentials for calculating CO2-equivalents: CO2 = 1 ton; CH4 = 25 tons of CO2; N2O = 298 tons of CO2

Information about the natural gas delivered by Upper Michigan Energy Resources

If your company is required to report greenhouse gas emissions or chooses to analyze its carbon footprint, you may need information about natural gas delivered by Upper Michigan Energy Resources. The EPA’s default emission factors for natural gas for CO2 and CH4 and N2O are appropriate to use for the natural gas we distribute along with WEC Energy Group’s leak rate of 0.55 kg/mmBTU. The amount of natural gas consumed can be found on your bill or in the My Account (We Energies or Wisconsin Public Service) section of the website. As a service to customers, we provide the heating value of your natural gas below*.

Higher Heating Value (HHV) - (MMBtu/Mscf)
  2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
Jan 1.050 1.036 1.037 1.043 1.047 1.040 1.047
Feb 1.054 1.036 1.034 1.042 1.047 1.049 1.049
Mar 1.045 1.033 1.040 1.048 1.044 1.044  
Apr 1.043 1.026 1.037 1.045 1.050 1.047  
May 1.034 1.032 1.035 1.043 1.045 1.048  
Jun 1.029 1.030 1.042 1.047 1.042 1.046  
Jul 1.018 1.028 1.043 1.047 1.042 1.042  
Aug 1.021 1.029 1.035 1.046 1.039 1.045  
Sep 1.019 1.032 1.037 1.047 1.044 1.051  
Oct 1.022 1.036 1.046 1.046 1.049 1.051  
Nov 1.026 1.041 1.044 1.044 1.043 1.048  
Dec 1.033 1.036 1.043 1.045 1.042 1.051  

STP: Standard Temperature - 60°F, Standard Pressure - 14.7 psia
Measurement Standard: GPA 2172-09

* The data on this page represent an average heating value for the system and may differ from data that meets state or local regulatory requirements and is used for billing purposes. Accordingly, it is data provided solely for informational purposes, and not for billing purposes. Upper Michigan Energy Resources makes no claim or representation that the data provided is accurate and makes no warranties express or implied, including but not limited to fitness for a particular purpose, including EPA compliance. No party should rely on such data, including, but not limited to, for billing purposes.

If you need or want more than consumption and heating value information, an independent natural gas analysis service provider can help.