At a special meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 30, the Pedernales Electric Cooperative Board of Directors voted to reduce the Co-op’s per-kilowatt-hour delivery charge effective with electricity purchased beginning December 1, 2014.
“The Board of Directors has worked with management the past few years to get the Cooperative in a very stable and strong financial position,” said PEC Board President Dr. Patrick Cox. “Our current financial projections and careful analysis by the Co-op’s staff signal this is the right move to make at the right time.”
The reduction will affect all rate classes that have a delivery charge. For residential members, the reduction will amount to $5 per thousand kilowatt-hours consumed. PEC’s average monthly residential use is 1,275 kwh, so the majority of members should see even greater savings on their bills.
“We continue to increase equity, debt service is far above required levels and we’ve had substantial reductions in bad debt and write-offs,” said PEC Chief Executive Officer John D. Hewa. “We find this a great opportunity to provide a responsible rate reduction to the membership.”
The current per-kwh delivery charge of $0.03212 for residential members will be reduced to $0.02712, and while the decrease goes into effect Dec. 1, some members will see it reflected on later bills, depending on when billing cycles fall within the month.
The Co-op leadership also is actively working with LCRA and other power providers to further reduce costs. “Power supply accounts for 65 percent of all the Co-op’s expenditures,” Hewa said. “We are actively exploring ways to reduce our power costs in an effort to lower member bills, and we anticipate more good news in the next few months.”
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