As consumer-owned co-ops, we are doing what we can to keep your bills down; electricity costs are increasing, but not nearly as much as other forms of energy.
We are becoming all too familiar with the unpleasant reality of high inflation rates for nearly everything we buy. A significant factor in the higher cost of goods and services is the runaway price of most forms of energy — the price of crude oil, gasoline, natural gas, coal, and propane have all increased, by 30, 40, even 50% over the past year.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has made what was a difficult market situation much worse. Energy prices feed into the price of making and transporting nearly everything — and that includes the cost to make and deliver electric service. From the fuel inputs to our power plants to powering bucket trucks and heavy equipment needed for electric distribution, we are realizing higher costs across the board.
In addition, the cost of using the high-voltage transmission system that moves bulk power supplies from our power plants to your co-op’s electric distribution system has been increasing dramatically. Utilities that own the high-voltage grid have been rebuilding much of this system due in part to its age and condition but also because of changes to the network configuration as a result of the recent retirement of many older power plants.
These factors are putting pressure on the cost your co-op pays for power supplied to its system, on top of the rising cost of operating its own equipment. As consumer-owned cooperatives, we are doing what we can to keep your bill down; electricity costs are increasing, but not nearly as much as other forms of energy.
One of the ways we slow those rising costs is with the use of our diverse power-supply portfolio. We carefully — and constantly — monitor our mix of fuel inputs from day to day and make adjustments depending on fuel availability and price, to achieve the lowest cost possible.
Unfortunately, bills will be going up over the next several months. Please know that your electric cooperative is using every resource at its disposal to keep your supply of electricity reliable as well as affordable.
