SIKESTON — SEMO Electric Cooperative has announced to its customers their electricity rates will increase in 2023.
In an email sent to customers on Wednesday, SEMO Electric said for residential accounts, the “daily fixed charge” will increase 25 cents; and the kilowatt-hour (kWh) cost will increase from $0.08798 to $0.09326. For a residential member using 1,000 kWh per month, increases amount to $11.28 per month.
According to SEMO Electric, the increases are driven primarily by higher prices for natural gas and coal — the fuels used to generate most of SEMO Electric Cooperative’s electricity — plus the impact of cost increases (due to COVID and inflation) on poles, transformers, wires and other items required to keep the lights on and fiber flowing.
“No one wants to pay more for goods or services,” SEMO Electric said Wednesday in an email to customers. “SEMO Electric is a not-for-profit organization. We are a cooperative. Any profits are returned to members. The Board of Directors and Team SEMO take changing rates seriously. For residential accounts, this is the first kWh increase in 10 years. The residential price per kWh has been stable since January 2013. The Cooperative strives to control costs through technology and efficient work management.”
For general service (barns, shops, wells, cabins, etc.) and commercial accounts, the daily fixed charge will increase 25 cents per day with a 6% increase per kWh and an increase of 50 cents per kW (for those with demand charges), the cooperative said. For industrial accounts, the daily fixed charge increase varies. The kWh will increase 6% and kW will increase 75 cents. Visit gosemo.com/rates for the rate schedule.
SEMO Electric offers pay-as-you-go-services, budget billing and payment agreements that allow member-owners to take control, pay past-due balances and avoid disconnection of service. SEMO Electric also directs members in need to state agencies that are committed to helping people regain control of their financial lives.
The “daily fixed charge” for residential members will be $1.35, which SEMO Electric said, is less than a regular soft drink at a convenience store or a restaurant. The “daily fixed charge” provides recovery of fixed costs such as transformers, line maintenance, line trucks, property taxes and tree trimming. These are necessary costs associated with keeping the lights on even if no electricity is used. The Daily Fixed Charge doesn’t fluctuate with the weather. The daily fixed charge is a more consistent method of recovering fixed costs, the cooperative said.
Historically, utilities have included most of the fixed costs in the kWh charge. The result is that members with distributed generation (solar, wind, etc.) are not paying the same share of fixed costs as other members to use the electric grid.
“This unfairly shifts fixed costs to members who do not have self-generation systems. We believe everyone should pay their fair share to maintain the grid, which is why we have daily fixed charge for all accounts,” SEMO Electric said.
Unlike retail companies, “shrinkflation” doesn’t work for SEMO Electric Cooperative and GoSEMO Fiber, the cooperative said.
“We aren’t able to reduce the size of a candy bar and sell it at the same price,” SEMO Electric said in its email to customers. “We are an essential utility services provider that operates 24/7/365. You expect us to be there for you. Team SEMO requires fuel, healthcare, payroll taxes, insurance and a fleet of vehicles to operate 24/7/365. It’s part of our business. Our focus is to make people’s lives better with reliable electricity and fiber-fast broadband.”
Anyone with questions should contact SEMO Electric at 800-813-5230.