Our new rates reflect our efforts to provide you with safe, reliable and affordable power, while operating in a fiscally sound and sustainable way.
A recent study helped determine the need to recover costs of providing high quality service, in view of the growing costs of doing business. The new rates will add 6.5 percent to UEC revenues next year to cover the costs of serving members over nearly 2,000 square miles of our service territory.
Rate adjustments for each customer class will be effective with energy used in March 2022. For each category listed on our Rates page, the basic charge will remain the same.
- Residential: The energy charge for each kilowatt-hour used will be 7.33 cents, up from 6.91 cents. A residential member who uses 1,000 kWh in a month will pay $4.20 more each month, or about 14 cents a day. For seasonal accounts, the energy charge will rise to 10.12 cents (from 9.55 cents).
- Commercial: The energy rate and demand charge will stay the same for 2022.
- Industrial: For small Industrial accounts (with a demand of 301 kW to 10,000 kW), the demand charge will increase to $6.40 (from $6) and energy charge will be 4.45 cents (up from 3.87 cents).
- Irrigation: For small irrigation accounts (those with demand of 100 kW or less), the demand charge rises to $8.40 (from $8) and the energy charge rises a small fraction of a cent, to 6.13 cents (up from 6.11 cents). For large irrigation accounts, the demand charge remains the same, while the new energy rate of 4.04 cents compares to the previous rate of 3.83 cents.
UEC’s operating costs are rising across the board, including the cooperative’s largest expense, purchasing wholesale power, said Robert Echenrode, General Manager and CEO.
In response, “We are working to find even greater efficiencies in planning, purchasing, maintaining and upgrading our system, with the goal of stabilizing future rate impacts without compromising the quality of service,” he said.
The chart below indicates the varying impacts to each customer classes. Rate adjustments among the customer classes are based on a basic principle of consumer-owned electric utilities – that each customer class pays the cost needed to serve them, and that one customer class does not subsidize another, he said.
Overall, UEC’s new residential rates are more than 20 percent lower than the average residential rate in Oregon, and more than 35 percent lower than the national residential rate, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates.
The full rate schedules have been published on our Rates page under My Account. Please call or visit our Hermiston or Boardman offices if you wish to receive an analysis of your bill and suggestions on how to save energy.
Our staff can discuss no-cost or low-cost measures you can take, or introduce you to our rebate programs and low-interest loans to make energy improvements. In addition, for those who meet income requirements, we offer a heating assistance program. Please contact our customer service representatives at (541) 567-6414 for more information.