Electric Co-op to adjust billing

By Mike Marino
Cibola County Bureau

GRANTS – Continental Divide Electric Cooperative is looking for a way to level out power costs to help co-op consumers stabilize winter heating bills due to rising energy costs.

“We’re always trying to find better ways to help the customer save on their energy costs and to help minimize the impact of seasonal energy fluctuations that can affect their bills,” Mac Juarez, community relations director for CDEC, said. The CDEC recently filed notice with the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission to adjust rates. During winter, it costs the co-op more to buy power because of the increased demand for electricity for heat and the fuel price increases necessary to create that power. Both factors are used to determine what consumers pay for what is termed “Purchased Power Cost Adjustment,” or PPCA.

“We are trying to reduce the negative financial impact caused by volatile fluctuations in what the co-op pays for power throughout the year,” Dick Shirley, CDEC’s general manager, said .

The PPCA is a line item charge that can be found on the billing details portion of the monthly statement and is listed under basic services. The proposed adjustment the CDEC is requesting would, if approved, equalize those fluctuations, especially in winter; so would effect how the co-op accounts for power costs.

In dollars and cents, the new system charge would be $15 instead of the current $12.50, and the general service rate for residential and small commercial users would be 6.87 cents per kilowatt hour instead of the current 6.5 cents paid per kilowatt hour. The PPCA would now be zero.

“It’s important to keep in mind that the purchased power cost adjustment is money consumers will continue to pay regardless of whether it shows up as a line item or rolled into the co-op’s rate structure,” Shirley said.

To determine what the requested rate adjustment should be, CDEC had a forecast done to analyze power costs over the past 12 month period and from those figures came up with projections of what those costs might be over the next 12 months. The forecast model estimates power costs to be $17.4 million which is just $1 million over what co-op consumers paid last year with the increase being reflected in the rate adjustment CDEC has requested.

CDEC is a non-profit co-op and required to pay consumer capital credits, which is any money collected in excess of it’s operating costs, capital improvements and reserves. The proposed rate adjustments will show in October or November on monthly statements depending on customers billing cycle.

For more information, call the CDEC office at (505) 285-6656.