Cooking Thanksgiving Dinner Costs As Little As 58 Cents for Consumers Energy Customers This Year

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Nov 24, 2014, 06:00 ET

JACKSON, Mich., Nov. 24, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Consumers Energy shows how affordable it is to cook a traditional Thanksgiving dinner using the energy it provides.

"We are proud of being part of Michigan families' Thanksgiving celebrations for more than 125 years," said Patti Poppe, Consumers Energy's vice president of customer experience, rates and regulation. "Just like the turkey has been a fixture on Thanksgiving tables, Consumers Energy has been providing reliable, affordable energy for many generations of families as they create and celebrate holiday traditions."

It costs 58 cents to cook an entire Thanksgiving meal for 12 guests using a natural gas oven and stove, or $1.77 using an electric oven and stove.

Here is the breakdown of energy costs for helping to create priceless memories around the Thanksgiving table with family and friends:

Roast stuffed turkey: 36 cents in a natural gas oven; $1.09 in an electric oven.
Large pan of mashed potatoes: 3 cents on a natural gas stove; 9 cents on an electric stove.
Giblet gravy cooked on the stove: Less than 1 cent using natural gas; 4 cents using electricity.
Homemade baked dinner rolls: 5 cents in a natural gas oven; 14 cents in an electric oven.
Vegetable casserole: 5 cents in a natural gas oven; 14 cents in an electric oven.
Two baked pumpkin pies: 9 cents in a natural gas oven; 27 cents in an electric oven.

Consumers Energy offers these tips to get even more energy value while cooking:

Use glass and ceramic dishes. They hold heat well and allow you to lower the oven temperature by 25 degrees.
Keep the oven door closed. The temperature drops 25 to 75 degrees each time the oven door is opened, so monitor cooking time and peek through the oven window, if possible, to check on your food.
Use your microwave for defrosting and cooking small portions.
Plan to bake more than one dish or cook an entire meal in the oven to save energy.
Using roasting bags reduces cooking time in the oven by nearly half.

Consumers Energy, Michigan's largest utility, is the principal subsidiary of CMS Energy (NYSE: CMS), providing natural gas and electricity to 6.5 million of the state's 10 million residents in all 68 Lower Peninsula counties.

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KEEPING COSTS LOW: Consumers Energy has a huge underground natural gas system that protects customers from high heating prices: www.consumersenergy.com/News.aspx?id=7490&year=2014

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SOURCE Consumers Energy