You may have seen in the news that consumers purchasing electricity from an investor-owned utility (IOU) and/or through municipal aggregation programs, are being warned of significant upcoming rate increases as early as next month. Recent media reports are stating that these increases could be as high as double-digit in percentage. To learn more about these potential rate increases, we suggest you start with the Citizens Utility Board (CUB) at Home – Citizens Utility Board.
The rate increases for investor-owned utilities and municipal aggregation participants are largely due to the prices being paid for electric capacity, often billed as part of the “electric supply” line of the bill, as set at the recent capacity resource auction, known as the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) Planning Resource Auction (PRA). MISO is an independent, not-for-profit, member-based organization responsible for operating the power grid across 15 U.S. states and the Canadian province of Manitoba. To learn more about MISO, visit: MISO Market Participation (misoenergy.org). Results for MISO’s PRA can be found at Microsoft PowerPoint – 2022_PRA_Results_Posting_Final (misoenergy.org). Although, the PRA auction is not the only factor leading to increased electricity costs. Factors such as rising fuel costs, inflation, and supply chain concerns only add to the market issue.
We have also fielded questions on potential brownouts. Brownouts are a real concern. Since our power provider (SIPC) is connected to the national energy grid, we could experience a brownout situation if the regional grid operator (MISO) calls for a reduction in demand. While we hope this never happens, we assure you that we have been planning for this scenario for some time to minimize any impacts to our membership.
As a consumer-member of Egyptian Electric Cooperative Association you, like other inquires we have been getting, may have questions about how these recent price market changes will impact you. While inflationary and supply pressures are a concern looking into the future, we want you to know that rates at your electric cooperative are stable and that we are not projecting any rate increase in the near future. In fact, our residential rates have declined 3.4% since January 2020. In January of 2021, we revised our billing format so you can easily see what you pay for, with consistent terms and added details. For example, our standard residential electric rate (Rate Schedule A) lists our residential electric supply “kWH Charge” as $0.03/kWh, and our residential distribution “delivery charge” as $0.0692/kWh, that is reflected in your monthly bill.
Because we are member-owners of our power supplier, Southern Illinois Power Cooperative (SIPC), we are more insulated from market volatility. SIPC is located south of Marion, and where we own and operate our own electric generation facilities. To learn more about SIPC’s portfolio and diverse electric generation, we invite you to visit their website at: Power Supply – SIPC – Southern Illinois Power Cooperative (sipower.org)
Please know that we are working daily to provide a safe, reliable, and affordable electric supply to your today, and into the future. Should you have any questions, please contact us at (800) 606-1505 to speak with our live and local member services team. For more information regarding our electric rates and billing information, please visit the tabs below:
