Billing Explained
Common Billing Components Explained:
The monthly fixed service charge for your electric service covers the fixed cost to serve
your meter whether you use any energy or not. This charge supports the cooperative’s
investment in substations, poles, wire, meters, and transformers as well as the labor to
provide safe and reliable electric service. It also supports fleet, facility and customer service
functions, such as line maintenance, right of way clearing, member service support,
and administrative responsibilities. According to our last Cost of Service Study, the true
cost to serve a single phase customer using no electricity is $44.93 per month. The current
service charge for a single phase meter is $42.00 per month. The remainder of the cost to
serve this meter is picked up in the energy charge each month.
The energy charge is simply the amount of energy (kWh) you use times the rate you are currently
paying. For example a general single phase service pays $.1144 per kWh. This charge covers the costs of
purchasing power from our power supplier (except the PPA explained below) and pays the remaining
fixed costs that are not covered by the Service Charge (detailed above).
The PCA is a separate line item on each GCCEA billing statement which reflects the increases/decreases
in the cooperative’s actual cost of power purchased from our wholesale power supplier (Great River Energy).
The fluctuation in the PCA is largely caused by changes in the cost of fuel and operations and
maintenance of generation facilities. Wholesale power rates generally change seasonally based on the
demand for energy. Summer and winter costs are higher than the spring and fall seasons. These
monthly changes in power cost are passed directly on to our members through the Power Cost Adjustment.