Understanding your new bill

Broad River Electric Cooperatives' new rate structure takes effect at the beginning of your June billing cycle and will apply to all energy usage on your first July bill. 

Starting in July, your bill will look slightly different with this new rate structure, and so we want to give you a walkthrough of how to read your new bill. 

Pictured in the video is a sample bill generated for explanation only, but your bill will be similarly structured. The sample bill begins with an overview of your basic account information (name, service address, etc.) and the bill total.

Below this overview, you will find a series of thirteen boxes that explain how your bill total was calculated.

Starting from the left, the first three boxes on the printed bill are how we identify your account: the first box is your account number, the second is the code for your rate, and the third is your meter number. Next is a box noting the starting date of service followed by a box indicating the ending date of service and then a box with the total days covered in this bill. In this case, the bill covers 28 days.

Following those boxes are two boxes showing your previous and present meter readings. Let's examine the readings and how they are calculated in your bill. The previous reading shown here is 49,398 kilowatt-hours, and the present reading shown is 51,042 kilowatt-hours. The total kilowatt-hour usage shown here is the difference between the present reading and the previous reading. The next box is the meter multiplier of 1.0 which is always there for the vast majority of our accounts, so let's set that aside. 

Following that box is the total usage box, which in this example billing cycle is 1,644 kilowatt-hours. We multiply that by 8.274 cents per kilowatt hour, and we come to an Energy Charge of $135.96, which appears further down your bill in the total calculations. The next box is your Peak Energy Reading, which is the new portion of this new rate structure. This shows the one hour when your energy use was the highest during peak hours in this billing cycle, and how many kilowatts were used in that one hour. This sample member used 6.2 kilowatts from 3:00 to 4:00 PM on June 8th. We multiply that 6.2 kilowatts by $12 for a total Peak Demand charge of $74.50, an amount that will also be shown in your bill’s calculations. As a reminder, even though on peak hours happen every day for three hours, only the one hour highest energy usage that falls within peak hours will receive the $12 charge. 

These two charges, the Energy Charge and the Peak Demand Charge, are the only ones that measure the electricity that was delivered to your home. The final box is the Margin Adjustment Factor. This number increases or decreases by fractions of a cent because of fluctuations in the prices we pay to our wholesale power provider and other suppliers. The MAF helps cover those fuel and other cost fluctuations without having to continually restructure our electricity rates. This number is multiplied by your energy usage and added to or subtracted from the total charge. Sometimes it increases the total, sometimes it lowers it. In this case, the margin adjustment factor lowers the bill by $22.75, as shown further down in the explanation of your bill.

Below this line of boxes, you will next find a box on the left that contains your activity since last billing, meaning payments and any balance due, as well as any message from your cooperative and a reminder of the hours in which peak use rates are in effect.

To the right, the next box is the Detail of Charges, which is where we calculate your total bill. In the video, we now break down those numbers and what each line item means. The first item is the Grid Access Fee, a fixed monthly charge of $30 per billing cycle to cover the operating costs associated with providing electricity to your home, such as maintaining power lines, equipment, and labor. The Grid Access Fee is not a new charge. We have always built in a fixed fee in your monthly bill to cover our operating costs. Now, we will be clearly showing how it factors into your total bill. 

The next line is the Margin Adjustment Factor. This number increases or decreases by fractions of a cent because of fluctuations in the prices we pay to our wholesale power provider and other suppliers. The MAF helps cover those fuel and other cost fluctuations without having to continually restructure our electricity rates. This number is multiplied by your energy usage and added to or subtracted from the total charge. Sometimes it increases the total, sometimes it lowers it. In this case, the margin adjustment factor lowers the bill by $22.75, as mentioned earlier. 

The next line is the Energy Charge. As covered earlier, the charge shown here is $135.96.

Following that is the Peak Demand Charge line. As covered earlier, the charge shown here is $74.50.

The next line is labeled Roundup Amount. This sample member is enrolled in Operation Roundup, which rounds up their bill to the next dollar to generate charitable funds. This small change collected each billing cycle for members enrolled in this program adds up to $100,000 in annual donations to local charitable causes. 

When all line items are calculated together, that brings the total due to $218. On the old rate structure, when the Energy Charge was about 40% higher and there was not a Peak Demand Charge, this member's bill would have been about $236, so they were able to save about $18 on the new rate structure. 

We hope this walkthrough has been helpful. As always, if you have questions about any of the terms or changes on your bill, or if you want us to look specifically at your account, please don't hesitate to give us a call at 1-866-266-7688