RATE INCREASE EFFECTIVE THIS MONTH

Beginning with bills mailed after July 7, there will be an increase in Butler Rural Electric Cooperative’s Distribution Base Charge and Distribution Energy Charge. The Distribution Base Charge will increase from $40 to $42 for residential members. The Distribution Energy Charge will increase from $0.0535 to $0.05671 per kilowatt-hour.

Co-op members have the certainty that rates increase when the true cost of delivering electricity to your home increases – never to generate profits for outside investors. A rate increase was necessary to offset the continually rising costs of materials, labor, and other expenses.

Butler Rural Electric Cooperative takes rate decisions seriously. We know rate changes affect members in a very personal way. The cooperative is committed to making sure we maintain reliable electric service and are responsive to members’ needs. We work hard to keep your bill as low as possible and to maintain a system that will provide you with the electricity you need when you need it, now and in the future.

Rate increase information

Due to multiple years of inflationary pressure on material and labor costs, the cooperative will implement our first distribution rate increase in six years. Cooperative employees have controlled costs during this time, allowing us to delay an increase that was originally forecasted in 2019.

With the rate increase going into effect for all bills mailed after July 7, the new rates will be applied to your energy use beginning July 1. Bills with our new rates will be calculated August 3.

The rate changes on the distribution components of your bill are forecasted to result in an average increase of 2.7% for residential members, or a $6.49 increase per month. Butler Rural Electric Cooperative’s Board of Trustees and management staff did not take this decision lightly, but after conducting cost of service studies and looking ahead for continued reliability, a rate increase was deemed necessary to maintain the power and reliability our members expect. Thankfully, these changes are significantly lower than what you have heard reported by some of our neighboring utilities in the past 18 months.

Distribution Base Charge

Beginning with bills mailed after July 7, the Distribution Base Charge will increase from $40 to $42 for residential members.

The Distribution Base Charge is the component of the bill that covers upkeep of our electric system, such as lines, poles, meters, and substations. It covers everything it takes to bring electricity to your home and is influenced by the operating costs of Butler Rural Electric Cooperative. On average, this is the smallest portion of the bill.

Regardless of how much electricity a home uses, the cost of delivering power to that home is the same. Even if there is no electric use, it still costs the cooperative to have facilities in place to deliver electricity to each home in our service territory. As a not-for-profit electric cooperative, the operational costs are spread fairly and equally across all of our members, regardless of electricity use. That is why every member pays the Distribution Base Charge to cover basic operational costs. All residential members are charged the same amount for the cost of operation because all members benefit from the same service.

Distribution Energy Charge

Beginning with bills mailed after July 7, the Distribution

Energy Charge will increase from $0.0535 to $0.05671 per kilowatt-hour.

The Distribution Energy Charge includes all costs that are not recovered in the Distribution Base Charge, such as regulatory costs. This is the portion of your bill you can control by controlling your electric use. If you decrease your electric use by 1.2 kilowatt-hours each day for a month, you would more than avoid the increase to the Distribution Base Charge and the Distribution Energy Charge.

We’re here to help

We know increases in your energy costs can be tough to manage. That’s why we offer options like budget billing, home energy audits, and rebates for energy-efficient home upgrades. We will continue offering programs that help keep costs down and will look for new ways to achieve this goal.

Rising equipment costs

Download our free SmartHub app to securely analyze your electric use. SmartHub shows your electric use on a monthly, daily, and hourly basis to help you find ways to save energy and money. Visit My Usage in SmartHub to learn more.

Payment extensions can help if you are unable to pay your total past due balance. These enable members to extend the due date for the past due amount until the Friday after the scheduled disconnection. Request an extension prior to the scheduled disconnection by logging into your SmartHub account and select Billing and Payments > Payment Extensions.

Financial resources and community assistance programs are available for those struggling with payments. Visit butlerrural.coop > My Account > Billing & Pay > Payment Assistance or call us at 513-867-4400 for a list of resources.

The cost of goods needed to deliver electricity to your home has risen over the last six years, when we last increased distribution rates. The graphic below shows the direct price increases from 2017 to now. As a not-for-profit utility, we must pass along rising costs to members.