New bill credit options help to offset increase

In today’s modern, connected world, having a source of safe, reliable, and affordable electricity is crucial. That’s what your local cooperative strives to deliver to you all day, every day. We’re proud of our efforts to serve your needs with competitively priced electricity, responsive member service, and proactive, necessary investments in the electric delivery grid.

You support all these services through the rates you pay for electricity, but those rates must cover costs. Due to multiple years of inflationary pressure on material and labor costs, the cooperative will implement a rate adjustment to the distribution service charge effective on the bill you receive in February (due on March 10). All residential and single-phase services will see a $1 per month adjustment, all 3-phase services 500 kva or less will see a $2 per month adjustment and all 3-phase services over 500 kva will see a $5 per month adjustment. See the chart at right for a specific breakdown of the change.

The adjustment is only being applied to the distribution service charge portion of your bill. The per kWh charge (listed on your statement as the energy charge), which is a result of the amount of energy that you use each month, will not change. The distribution service charge is designed to cover the fixed costs of providing reliable electric service to each of our members whenever you need or want it, regardless of how much electricity you use. It includes costs such as tree trimming, line maintenance, meters, poles, distribution and transmission capacity, and expenses for billing, member, and administrative services.

Your co-op offers many resources to help our members save money, such as free energy audits, rebate programs, and online energy calculators. We will now also be offering a monthly credit of $.50 to our members who choose paperless billing statements and $.50 to those that choose ACH autopay, which makes paying your bill more efficient and secure.   

Your locally elected board of trustees and
your cooperative’s employees realize the financial burden many of our members are facing. We continue to work diligently to control costs and minimize the impacts on your bill while still providing you with the reliable service you deserve. Co-op members have the certainty that rates need to be adjusted when the true cost of delivering reliable electricity to your home increase — never to generate profits for outside investors.

New $.50 monthly credit per account when you choose these options:

• Paperless billing statements
• ACH autopay

(applies to new and existing enrollees)