What to expect on your August bill
There’s bad news, good news and great news for CoServ Members.
First, the bad news.
There’s no getting around it.
July was hot and air conditioners worked overtime throughout the month to keep up with the 100-plus degree temperatures. The mercury topped 100 degrees 19 times in North Texas last month and that will be reflected in CoServ Members' electricity usage.
The half an inch of rain we got early in the month did little to hydrate North Texas lawns or keep the temperature down. Rainfall was more than an inch below normal.
However, as bad as it was, the average temperature was 2.5 degrees cooler than the same period a year ago, and the average high was 99.8 degrees, compared to 102.4 a year ago.
Utilities subtract the average temperature to 65 degrees to calculate the Cooling Degree Days (CDD), which measures how much air conditioning was used during a given period. The CDDs were down 9 percent from July 2022 but usage remained high.
Now the good news.
The electric rate will stay the same for the fourth month in a row. CoServ maintained the Power Cost Recovery Factor (PCRF) at -$0.02 cents, which means it subtracts 2 pennies off the base rate.
The PCRF allows CoServ to account for fluctuations in wholesale power costs. Electricity costs are primarily driven by natural gas prices and when prices are low, as they are now, the PCRF is a negative number.
Visit CoServ.com/Rates for more information.
Finally, the great news.
CoServ will retire Capital Credits in the form of bill credits this month to all current Members who joined the co-op prior to 2023. The bill credit will be applied to August electric bills.
Former Members who have moved out of CoServ’s territory will have their Capital Credits mailed to them in the form of a check to the last forwarding address on record. Email [email protected] to update your new address.
The CoServ Board of Directors voted in May to retire $16 million in Capital Credits this year, the largest retirement in CoServ’s history. As a nonprofit electric co-op, CoServ doesn’t have shareholders or dividends to pay with its annual margins (excess revenue) like the investor-owned utilities do. Instead, the money is allocated to Members based on the amount of electricity purchased and how long they’ve been on our lines.
These bill credits that Members will receive this month are just another advantage of belonging to an electric co-op.
