IMPORTANT NEWS CONCERNING CHANGES

You may be eligible for a discount if you have more
than one electric meter with Wiregrass Electric Cooperative
Questions?
Most homeowners have only one electric meter, the one attached to their residence to meter the electricity
that powers their home each day. However, many Wiregrass Electric Cooperative members have more than one
meter, perhaps for an electric fence, a well pump, a shed or a barn. If you have more than one meter,
the additionAL meters may be eligible for a discount off the monthly Facility Charge.
How do I know if I qualify for this discount?
If you have more questions regarding
your bill or WEC’s new rate structure,
please contact us:
In order for your additional meters to quality for the discount, they must meet certain criteria. Because every
situation is different, you must contact Wiregrass Electric cooperative to arrange for a WEC
staking crew to visit your property and inspect the locations and purposes of the additional meters. This is the
only way to determine if you qualify for a discount off the Facility Charge, or to begin receiving this discount.
➤
Visit www.wiregrass.coop
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Email [email protected]
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Call 800-239-4602 or
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Visit the WEC office near you:
IMPORTANT NEWS
CONCERNING
CHANGES TO YOUR
WEC BILL
• Hartford - 509 N. State Hwy. 167, Hartford, AL 36344
• Dothan - 6167 Fortner St., Dothan, AL 36305
• Ashford - 1066 Ashford Hwy., Ashford, AL 36312
• Samson - 13148 W. State Hwy. 52, Samson, AL 36477
Understanding your new WEC bill
And remember, when reporting a
power outage, be sure to use our
If you have more than one electric meter on your property, please call WEC
at 800-239-4602 and ask our Member Care Team to help you arrange an
inspection by our crews. This discount is not automatic — you must call
and arrange an inspection of your additional meters to determine if
they are eligible for the discount.
Toll-Free Power Outage
Reporting:
1-888-4-MY-OUTAGE
(1-888-469-6882)
• A look at WEC’s new bill
• An explanation of the new rate structure
• The reasons behind the change
Plus...
News for those with more than one meter
09-299-24M-01/10
It's not a rate increase or decrease, but your
bill is changing. Following is an explanation.
Beginning with our January billing
cycles, Wiregrass Electric Cooperative
has changed its rate structure to better
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2
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manage the costs of providing you
Rate Explanation:
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2
3
Wiregrass Electric Cooperative has changed
its rate structure. Here are the reasons why.
Because WEC is a cooperative, it operates “at cost.” While most businesses work to make a profit
for their shareholders, we either reinvest any profits (what we call 'margins') into improving the
system or return them to our members as capital credit refunds. To date, WEC has returned nearly
$3 million in capital credit refunds to our members.
with a reliable source of electricity in
Under our former rate structure, WEC
a financially sound manner. This new
depended heavily on the sale of power to recover
our fixed costs (salaries, equipment, depreciation,
etc.). This model works fine as long as members
use enough kilowatt-hours to cover our fixed costs.
The hotter the summers and the colder the winters,
the more kilowatt-hours were sold. Under such a
structure, milder weather, conservation efforts, job
losses and similar economic factors that result in
lower power sales make it difficult to fund the dayto-day operating costs of the cooperative.
structure is displayed clearly on your
bill, as shown in this sample.
Distribution Cost
This line item is a clear disclosure of what it actually costs to operate your electric cooperative.
It consists of (1) a base amount we call a Facility Charge, which covers most of the fixed costs
of delivering power to your home or business and (2) an energy charge that varies monthly
with the kilowatt-hours of electricity you use each billing cycle, to cover the remaining
distribution costs.
Wholesale Power Cost
This line item reflects the average base rate per kilowatt-hour that WEC pays its wholesale
power provider, PowerSouth Energy Cooperative, for the electricity we buy to distribute to
homes and businesses throughout our service area. This is strictly a pass-through amount,
reflecting what we actually paid PowerSouth for the energy we purchased and delivered to you.
Wholesale Power Cost Adjustment
This line item allows WEC to quickly and accurately respond to monthly and seasonal
fluctuations in the cost of generating electricity. Wholesale power is impacted by factors such
as weather extremes and movements in wholesale fuel prices. Weather variation can cause
unusually high or low consumer demand or energy usage. Unexpected fuel price movements,
cause increases and decreases in your cooperatives monthly wholesale power costs. These
changes can be reflected on your bill in a timely manner through the Wholesale Power Cost
Adjustment (WPCA). Most of the time, the WPCA will have a leveling effect on our members'
bills, providing a credit or being very low in high consumption months, and adding only a
small increase in low consumption months.
Our new rate structure levels out the annual
cash flow for Wiregrass Electric Cooperative and
allows us to recover our actual fixed operating costs
throughout the year — an important factor for an
“at cost” provider like WEC. The three components
(as described to the left) better reflect the actual
costs of delivering electricity to your home or
business, allowing you to see more clearly than ever
before the impact your electricity use has on your
bill, as well as the impact of shifting prices in the
cost of wholesale energy.
How will this change impact your Wiregrass
Electric Cooperative?
This rate structure change is “revenue neutral”
for your cooperative. It is not a rate increase or
decrease. It will not substantially raise or lower the
amount of money we receive each year to cover
our fixed costs. By separating these fixed costs from
fluctuations in wholesale power costs, it will enable
WEC to better manage the costs it can control
(distribution expenses) without being unduly
impacted by the costs it cannot control (mild
weather, low energy use).
Since this change is revenue neutral, how will
it impact your bill?
Because of the Facility Charge portion of our
Distribution Cost, some members will see an
increase in their bill while others will see a decrease.
The average household, which uses approximately
1,200 kilowatt-hours per month, will see a slight
decrease in their bill. Households that use a lower
number of kilowatt-hours per month will see a
slight increase in their bills.
The greatest changes are that (1) every member will now have a better understanding
of what costs contribute to their energy bill each month, and (2) each bill total will
now better reflect WEC’s fixed costs of providing electricity to that account.