Co-op members must demand change after Ozark Electric adds 'demand charge' to bills
In its April electric bills, Ozark Electric Cooperative (OEC) implemented a new line-item billing charge labeled “Demand Charge.”
OEC is a member-owned electric cooperative serving nine counties in the southwest Missouri region, including western Greene and Christian counties. OEC has its headquarters located in Mt. Vernon.
Demand is a new controversial billing charge in that it is a charge for “kilowatts” that pass through the meter as opposed to kilowatt hours (kwh) which we are all familiar with. Kwh is the amount of electricity consumed through the use of appliances in the home. OEC has determined that $3.75 per kilowatt is a “fair” rate for the kilowatts passing through the members’ meters during a 15-minute peak period, during a billing period. If this sounds complicated, it is! Members are extremely upset at the new billing scheme in that it removes all ability to manage the bottom line of the bill, removing the members’ ability to control their billing expense. OEC tells us that we can manage our total bills by using only one major appliance at a time.
Really? Are you serious? OEC tells us that we can’t cook and do laundry at the same time; we can’t do a load of laundry and put a load in the dryer at the same time; and heaven forbid that we are doing laundry while cooking, and the air conditioner, the water heater and the water well all come on at the same time. Should that scenario happen, it would produce a very high demand which in turn would produce a very high electric bill. The demand charge billing platform, as implemented by Ozark Electric, is overly burdensome on those members who are conservative in the usage of electricity, those on low and fixed incomes, and those solar owners who are on a net-metering system.
Members have met with OEC management and board of directors to voice their concerns, but to no avail. Recently, some state lawmakers, including Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, 1st Assistant Attorney General Jay Atkins, Sen. Mike Moon and several state representatives gathered at a meeting in Republic to hear members’ stories on how demand charges have impacted their lives. Those lawmakers have vowed to meet with Ozark management and board of directors to find out why and how demand billing is being forced onto the co-op members. We all know that everything has gone up in cost. No one is disputing that the co-op might need to raise its rates, the dispute is in the demand charges and how they were implemented, and the general lack of transparency.
The general manager of OEC, Patrick Oehlschlager, has stated: “Demand is here to stay.” He further stated that demand billing is a more ”fair” way of billing for electricity in that we are no longer paying for our neighbors. Our reply to that is, “Mr. Oehlschlager, we would like to go back to paying for our neighbors, it was far cheaper and much more manageable. We want our lives back.”
There will be an election on July 26, at the Ozark Electric Cooperative annual meeting, at the Mt. Vernon High School. Voting will be “in-person” only, between 10:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m., with a drive-through option for those on a limited schedule. The election is for three members for the board of directors. Please exercise your right to vote, and vote for candidates who are opposed to the current demand billing platform, and who are for more transparency in OUR electric co-op.
Mitch Sims lives in Clever and is an Ozark Electric Cooperative member/owner.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Ozark Electric members should reject co-op's 'demand charge' scheme
