Regional News see more »

The Pedernales Electric Cooperative Board of Directors voted unanimously at its June 15 meeting to implement a revised rate structure based on recommendations submitted by C.H. Guernsey & Company. “This is the most open and transparent process for setting a new rate structure in the history of PEC,” said PEC General Manager Juan Garza. “It has included the involvement of the membership, the Board and the staff in an unprecedented way, and with the passage of these recommendations, PEC will be conforming to more common industry standards.”

Garza said the average PEC member will see a decrease in their bills with the revised rates, which are effective with members’ August 2009 bills. The new rate structure is intended to clearly reflect the Cooperative’s service availability charge, delivery charge and power supply costs.

“The important thing for me, and I think for all of us, is to give the membership a mechanism whereby they can assess what monies are going to PEC and what monies are going to the power companies that produce the electrical power,” Garza explained. “The membership and the Board can hold us more directly accountable.”

The new rates, and a revised line extension policy, are expected to reduce PEC’s overall rates charges by about $2.5 million.

Under the revised rates, the average residential member’s bill will decrease slightly, from $155.67 per month to $154.90 per month, while the Cooperative’s service availability charge will increase from $20 per month to $22.50 per month. The average residential PEC member uses 1,271 kilowatt-hours per month. A member using 500 kwh will see a slight increase in their bill, from $73.39 to $74.60.

In current bills, residential members see a service availability charge and an energy charge. Future bills will detail the service availability charge, delivery charge per kwh and power costs per kwh.

Other changes to the Cooperative’s rate structure include increased service availability charges for small power and water well members, a new demand charge for large power members and an increased monthly charge for high-powered (250-watt) area lighting. Members using low-watt area lights will see a decrease in monthly charges. The Board adopted revised tariffs and business rules to make them more understandable to members.

PEC will notify its members by mail of the changes in rates and has planned a series of open houses to introduce the new rates to members. The open houses will be held in: Kyle on July 13; Junction on July 14; Cedar Park on July 16; Spring Branch on July 22 and Johnson City on July 23. Several extensive rate analysis and cost of service study documents prepared by Guernsey also remain available at www.pec.coop for members to review.

In other business, the Board:

·Amended the bylaws to revise the way the Board appoints and removes Directors to require an affirmative two-thirds vote of the Board.

·Amended the bylaws to provide notice to members of the meeting following the annual meeting where Board officers are elected. Previously, the Board met immediately after the annual meeting without providing notice to members and elected officers.

·Amended the bylaws to remove the requirement to “pass upon reports covering the previous fiscal year” at the Cooperative’s annual meeting. The Board noted that the Cooperative’s annual report is not always available in June each year.

·Nominated James Spellman and Joyce Manske for Advisory Director-at-Large positions. Spellman and Manske will now go through a vetting process before their nominations are considered by the Board.

·Approved inviting Texas Electric Cooperatives and all other Texas electric cooperatives to join PEC in supporting legislation that will exclude from appraised values, as used to levy taxes, domestic rainwater collection systems and on-site electric generation systems. The measure is designed to encourage support for water and electricity conservation.

·Approved amendments to PEC’s whistleblower policy to clarify policy language and develop a committee for reporting violations.

Garza invited members to attend the Cooperative’s annual meeting, which will be held this Saturday at 2 p.m. in Johnson City. Winners of the PEC Board election will be announced at the event, which will be held at the PEC Training Center, located at 1506 North U.S. Highway 281.