At the regular meeting of the Clinton County Electric Cooperative Board of Trustees held on November 27, 2018, a $600,000 rate increase was approved effective with March 2019 usage included on the April 2019 bills. Back in January of 2018, Southern Illinois Power Cooperative (SIPC), our wholesale power provider, increased wholesale power costs to CCEC by 5.13%. This increase is the driving factor influencing the rate increase for 2019. The last time CCEC implemented a rate increase was five years ago in January 2014.
Back in January of 2018, CCEC’s board and management decided to defer a potential rate increase for a year, providing us the opportunity to complete a new cost of service study that would include the increased SIPC rates. Over that year, we were also able to analyze the impact SIPC’s rate increase would have on CCEC’s financials. The results from the study allowed us to break down the costs of providing service to each rate class and allocate those costs to each class of members to avoid any one class paying more or less than their fair share.
Seventy-eight percent of CCEC’s accounts are residential, single-phase, non-demand accounts on Rate 1. Nine percent of our accounts are seasonal, single-phase, non-demand accounts on Rate 10. At the January 2019 board meeting, the board approved management’s recommendation to increase the system delivery charge, for both Rate 1 and 10, from $49 to $52, decrease the power supplier charge from $0.038 to $0.0363 per kilowatt-hour and increase the capacity energy charge from $0.0554 to $0.0583 per kilowatt-hour. The average member on Rate 1 consumes 1,500 kwh per month. This increases their monthly bill from $189.10 to $193.90, or a $4.80 increase. The average member on Rate 10 consumes 275 kwh per month. Their monthly bill will increase from $74.69 to $78.02, or a $3.33 increase.
Small commercial, three-phase, non-demand accounts and large single-phase non-demand accounts make up a relatively small number of accounts on CCEC’s system. The system delivery charge for these accounts will increase slightly from $130 to $133, the power supplier energy charge will decrease from $0.038 to $0.0363 per kilowatt-hour and the capacity energy charge will increase slightly depending on the specific rate schedule. Overall, these accounts will experience an increase ranging from 5-9 percent.
The remaining accounts or services fall into large commercial and industrial rates. Larger loads are billed differently because of the demand they put on the electrical grid and power production. These accounts require four billing components: a system delivery charge, a power supplier energy charge, a power supplier demand charge and a distribution demand charge. Accounts with a smaller usage and lower demand will experience less of an increase versus those with higher usage and higher demand factors, varying from an 8-12 percent increase overall.
Detailed charts showing the effects of the rate increase can be found here. Please refer to your bill to determine which rate schedule applies to your account. Please remember the decisions made by the CCEC board and management are done with our member-owners’ best interest in mind. We are committed to keeping rates fair and reasonable while maintaining reliable service and financial stability. Please do not hesitate to email President Bob Kroeger kroeger@cceci.com with questions or comments.
