For Commercial, Industrial, & Irrigation Members
“Demand” is the total amount of electricity being used by a member at any 1 time. Demand varies from hour to hour, day to day, and season to season. This usage, which is expressed in kilowatts (not kilowatt-hours), is called the “demand” on the system.
The member is charged for the highest recorded demand within the last 30-day billing cycle on the meter. After Wasco Electric reads the meter each month, the demand is reset to zero, and the meter starts over.
Demand charge is based on each member’s highest 30-day demand on the cooperative’s distribution system each month. Demand is measured in kilowatts (kW).
To illustrate how a demand charge can affect an electric bill, let’s look at 2 simple examples:
Example 1:
Running a 20 kW load continuously for 50 hours would result in usage of 1,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) and accrue a demand charge of 20 kW.
20 kW X 50 hours = 1,000 kWh
Demand = 20 kW
Example 2:
Running a 2 kW load for 500 hours would also result in usage of 1,000 kWh but would only accrue a demand of 2 kW.
2 kW X 500 hours = 1,000 kWh
Demand = 2 kW
Both examples use the exact same amount of energy (1,000 kWh) and perform the same amount of work. However, the resulting bill will be very different.
Applying Wasco Electric’s Irrigation rate demand charge of $8.20 per kW and an energy charge of 8.50¢ per kWh to both examples shows the following results:
Bill #1:
20 kW X $8.20 = $164
1,000 kWh X .0850 = $85
Total = $249
Bill #2:
2 kW X $8.20 = $16.40
1,000 kWh X .0850 = $85
Total = $101.40
The actual energy (kWh) used is the same, and the work done is the same. The difference between the bills is based entirely on the highest demand recorded during the month.
Demand charges are the way the cooperative pays for generation and distribution capacity it needs to meet peak demand that occurs from time to time. The demand charge the cooperative pays to its wholesale power supplier is also calculated based on the highest demand during the month. Wasco Electric uses the same method to bill demand to our demand-rate members.
All of the cooperative’s members who are billed under the commercial, industrial, or irrigation rate schedules.
These include:
- Rate 20 - General Service - Under 100kW
- Rate 30 - Large General Service - Over 100kW
- Rate 35 - Generators Connected Directly to BPA Owned Transmission
- Rate 40 - Irrigation
No. Demand charge billing is used consistently in the electric utility industry.
To reduce the demand charge, simply examine your operation or how equipment is used.
- What energy-efficient improvements can be made?
- Does all of the equipment need to be running at the same time?
- If not, what can be turned off while other equipment is running?
Sometimes, there is equipment that is operated infrequently. If this is the case, can some other equipment be turned off while this equipment is running? The result may be significant savings in your monthly demand charge.
The delivery charge is the fixed portion of your monthly power bill that covers the stranded or fixed costs of the system in place to provide you with electricity. Whether you use electricity every day or simply on an occasional basis, the poles and wires remain ready to serve.
The delivery charge pays for such things as maintenance of the power poles, wires, transformers, meters, substations, and line equipment, as well as a portion of the expenses of reading the meters, billing, and maintaining member records.
The cooperative will need to occasionally schedule a planned outage in order to do maintenance or repair work on our lines. In the event of a planned outage, we will make every effort to notify you by phone or through social media.
Report outages 24 hours a day!
(800) 341-8580 or (541) 296-2740
Any equipment beyond the member’s meter is the responsibility of the member. Therefore, if your power goes out, first check your fuses or breakers. If you find a problem with the fuses or breakers, you will need to contact a local electrician for repairs. If our crews are requested to respond to such an outage, and the problem is located on the member’s side of the meter, the member may be billed the actual cost of labor and overhead.
If you determine that your fuses and breakers are working properly, contact us. When you call the office to report an outage, please provide your name, address, phone number, and any information you might have on what may have caused the outage. In most cases, we will attempt to call back to confirm that your power has been restored.
Any revenue collected and not used to pay operating expenses is returned to the members of Wasco Electric Cooperative in the form of capital credits. Profits earned by IOUs are repaid to stockholders, not members. Profits earned by PUDs and municipalities are retained by them.
Wasco Electric Cooperative is locally owned and controlled by the members. Directors, who must be members, are elected each year at the annual meeting by the members. The board functions as a body, planning, setting policies, and approving budgets. Their common goal is providing the best possible services at the lowest possible cost.
IOU boards generally consist of stockholders interested in a rate of return on their investment.
In 1935 President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Rural Electrification Act that made it possible for many rural people to organize electric cooperatives. The REA, as it was called, gave electric co-ops access to low interest loans for the purpose of constructing transmission and distribution systems in order to provide central station power to rural America. Many of the country’s People’s Utility Districts [PUD] also had access to REA funds.
At the time the REA Act was signed, there were very few rural people fortunate enough to enjoy the luxury of electricity that their city cousins had. Even if you happened to live next to the road right of way where an investor-owned utility [IOU] had a power line, the costs to connect in most cases were prohibitive, and you certainly could not afford to have the line built over a great distance. Evidence of this is still apparent today as you drive down Highway 97 in Sherman County.
Today, electric co-ops nationwide serve 13.5% of the population and account for 13% of the energy sold. Although they own and maintain nearly half of the distribution lines in the U.S., spanning 3-quarters of the land mass, they average only 7.98 consumers per mile and collect revenues of approximately $19,000 per mile.
IOU’s and public utilities, or municipals, average 32.4 customers per mile and collect $79,000 per mile of line. As a comparison, Wasco Electric Cooperative has a density of 2.8 consumers per mile and collects a revenue of approximately $6,050 per mile.