Electricity fee charges, rates differ locally
COEUR d'ALENE — Paying for electricity can sometimes be shocking.
Kootenai Electric Cooperative, a Hayden-based company which serves more than 22,000 members in Kootenai, Benewah, Bonner and Spokane counties, upped its monthly service availability fee in October from $19.50 to $22.75 for residential customers. The fee isn’t popular with some customers, including Carey Keele.
A small business owner who recently moved to Kootenai County, Keele called KEC to inquire about the fee. She said the customer service rep noted the company had received an influx of calls from other customers also upset about the increase.
"It's ridiculous. Avista doesn't do that. You're charged for what you use," Keele said.
According to KEC, the intent of the service availability charge is to recover the fixed costs of providing service to its members. This includes the cost of the substations, poles, wires and transformers used to deliver power to members’ homes, and the costs are incurred regardless of how much electricity is used.
The last time KEC had a service increase was 2013, when it jumped from $16.50 to $19.50. In 2009, it went up from $10 to $16.50.
The recent increase of 4.5 percent to total revenues went into effect, KEC said, due to the cost of purchasing power from Bonneville Power Administration, which increased by nearly 7 percent in 2015. The cost of using BPA power makes up half KEC's expenses. KEC also noted the challenges of a changing industry (i.e. solar panels, energy conservation technologies) contributed to the fee increase.
Erika Neff, communications coordinator at KEC, said customers were informed of an upcoming rate change months ago. In May, the company sent out information letters outlining the service availability fee increase and even offered informational workshops.
"Fewer than 20 members attended the rate workshops and two members attended the rate hearing. KEC also received 10 written comments and informal feedback from members by phone and email,” Neff said. “The KEC Board of Directors reviewed each comment. We understand the importance of keeping rates low and work hard to control our costs. These efforts have allowed us to keep rates stable for three years."
KEC, a member-owned nonprofit, said its cost of power is among the lowest in the country. Its cost per kilowatt-hour is $.07675. For a residential unit using 1,000 kWh per month, it would cost $76.75 plus the $22.75 service availability fee.
Spokane-based Avista, which has 128,000 electric customers in Idaho, currently charges a $5.25 "basic charge." The fee is for upgrades and maintenance of generation facilities and transmission and distribution equipment. Avista's kilowatt hour charge is higher than KEC's: $.08224 per kWh for the first 600 kWh and $.09183 per kWh after.
For an Idaho Avista residential customer using 1,000 kWh per month, it would cost $86.07 plus a $5.25 service fee. That could go up, as Avista has a pending application before the Idaho Public Utilities Commission to increase base electric rates by an average of 2.6 percent.
KEC said its fee will continue to go up over the next several years — reaching $39 a month in 2021 — but its cost of energy will go down.
That’s not comforting to Keele.
"This is an unreasonable charge as many local districts are 60 percent poverty," Keele said of the current KEC fee. "When anyone is spending hundreds of dollars a year on a fee, it doesn't seem right."