Earlier last year, our power supplier, Hoosier Energy, evaluated and redesigned their wholesale power rates to better serve their members. Periodic rate reviews are essential to ensure fair and sustainable pricing structures. SCI REMC also has a responsibility to evaluate our rates regularly. Because of that, we carried out a cost-of-service study as well. Our findings reflect the changes in the world and energy industry over the past two years.
As a member-owned cooperative, we take member dollars seriously. The power market is affected by national and global economic factors. While we can’t control what happens in global energy markets, we work hard to keep our operating costs as low as possible.
Starting in February 2024, SCI REMC members will notice a rate adjustment. For 10 years, we’ve avoided rate increases. However, recent years have brought unprecedented challenges including severe storms, inflation, and rising expenses from the global energy crisis.
SCI REMC provides tools to assist our members during this transition, including a rate calculator for bill estimation and an appliance calculator that reveals the kilowatts consumed by each appliance, along with the associated hourly kilowatt costs. These tools and more can be found on our website at sciremc.com.
We understand these changes mean added costs in an increasingly expensive world. We appreciate your understanding, support, and patience during these challenging times, and we look forward to serving you with critical and life-enhancing services for years to come.
Ways to Help Save
The basic service charge ensures that member expectations for continuous power and excellent customer service are met.
It provides the funds required to maintain the quality, reliability, and integrity of services that our members count on and have come to expect. The expenses include items such as:
- Wire, poles, transformers, and equipment needed to distribute reliable electricity for members' power needs.
- Trucks, equipment, and tools required to build and maintain the electric distribution system.
- Facilities that house trucks, equipment, and supplies, including the technology and office supplies needed to operate.
- Payroll for the wages of the professionals who design, build, maintain, and restore the system and the staff needed to operate the business.
- Vegetation management and system inspections to ensure the safety and reliability of the electrical system.
- Liability insurance, interest on long-term debt, and property taxes.
- New technologies to provide increased reliability and operational efficiencies such as the automated metering infrastructure (AMI) system, outage management system, and investments in renewable energy.
Because all cooperative members benefit from having reliable electric service available when they want it, the basic service charge ensures that everyone pays their fair share of the basic costs - fixed costs that exist whether or not a single kWh is used.
The new rates will take effect on February 2024 bills for January 2024 usage.
SCI REMC does everything we can to avoid cost increases while maintaining the quality of service you deserve and expect. Our primary mission as a not-for-profit co-op is to provide affordable and reliable services, not to make a profit.
The rate adjustment is due to a combination of several factors, including inflation, supply chain issues created by the pandemic, and, most recently, the war in Ukraine. Fuel supply costs have increased dramatically, causing electricity prices to do the same. It is the most volatile period we’ve seen in the last 20 years.
SCI REMC’s member-elected Board of Directors and executive staff continuously monitor the organization’s financial stability to determine if a rate change is necessary based on a cost-of-service study.
The Board of Directors then decides what the rates will be based on the following rate-making principles:
- Rates should generate the revenue required to operate the Cooperative, including appropriate operating margins
- Operating costs and margin requirements should be spread across all member classes equitably
- Rates should reflect the cost of serving each member class.
We take our responsibility to manage our members’ money very seriously. SCI REMC absorbed cost increases wherever we could for as long as possible before making the difficult decision to pass them on to members.
No. This rate change is due to inflation in the energy sector.
SCI REMC engaged a consultant to perform a cost-of-service study on our electric business. Our focus areas included materials, labor, and wholesale power pricing. The study was focused exclusively on our electric business. The fiber business did not impact the study or the consultant's conclusions.
You can help minimize the impact by taking action to reduce electricity consumption. Turn off the lights. Adjust your thermostat a little higher during the summer and a little lower during the winter. Consider a smart thermostat if you don’t already have one.
We also have several programs to help you optimize your energy consumption. We encourage you to visit our website (sciremc.com) to learn more about the energy efficiency programs and services we offer.
SCI REMC is a member-owner of Hoosier Energy, the generation and transmission (G&T) cooperative that provides electric power and services to SCI REMC and 17 other distribution cooperatives in Indiana and Illinois.
Hoosier Energy generates and transmits electric power, and SCI REMC distributes the power to homes, farms and businesses.
SCI REMC's last rate adjustment was in 2014. Our team and board of directors work hard to manage costs and maintain rate stability. For 10 years, SCI REMC has avoided a rate adjustment.