As a vital member of the Bowie-Cass Electric Cooperative, your investment in the co-op with every bill payment is crucial. This collective investment not only benefits you but also the entire community, both immediately and over time. So, what exactly is this monthly investment, and how do you, as a valued member, contribute to it?
The customer charge is a monthly investment that helps your co-op cover the expenses of maintaining the overall electric system. This includes ensuring that our community has reliable power during storms, maintaining the safety of our electrical infrastructure, and investing in new technologies to improve our service. Combatting cybersecurity threats and maintaining poles, wires, substations, and co-op equipment takes strategic planning and significant resources. The customer charge ensures that all equipment operates properly and staff is trained and ready so the lights turn on when needed.
Regardless of individual electricity consumption, the cost of delivering power to each household remains the same. As a not-for-profit electric cooperative, we believe in fair and equitable distribution of operational costs among all our members. This is why members, regardless of their electricity use, pay the monthly customer charge. It's a system that ensures everyone benefits equally from the service, giving each co-op member an equal share in Bowie-Cass's operation.
In order for the Cooperative to be able to continue to provide all the services just depicted, we will be making a 1% revenue adjustment starting August 1, 2024. The adjustment will be allocated to the member rate classes as follows: Residential +$1.60, Small Commercial/Public Buildings +$2.00, Large Power +$10.00. This small adjustment will help us manage increasing expenses and continue to provide safe, reliable, and affordable power. We’ve made no adjustments to the customer charge since the fall of 2017 and it’s safe to say that we all can agree the inflation that has taken place in that period of time far exceeds 1%.
We deeply appreciate and value your monthly investment in the co-op. We are committed to using your investment wisely, ensuring that it benefits all members of our community. Your trust in us is our greatest asset, and we strive to uphold it every day.
To learn more about the customer charge, do not hesitate to get in touch with our office at 903-846-2311.