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Rates & Billing

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  2. Rates & Billing

Bill Layout

Distribution Charges

Distribution charges are the co-op’s costs to deliver energy to your location.

Monthly Service Availability Charge

This is a flat monthly charge to pay the fixed costs of an electric distribution system, including poles, wires, substations, transformers, meters, tree trimming, pole testing, interest, depreciation, as well as the cost of repairs, maintenance, and upgrades. The Service Availability charge helps pay for electric reliability investments.

Energy Charge

The cost for the minimum delivery system to provide electric service. This shows the number of kilowatt-hours (kWh) you used during this billing period (typically 30 days), times our electric rate. You can lower this charge through energy efficiency measures, including our energy audits.

Why do I have to pay a flat monthly service charge even if I’m not using power? 

As a member of Midwest Electric, you make an investment in the co-op every time you pay your bill. This collective investment in the co-op benefits you and the community immediately and over time. We all need a reliable local energy grid, so we all share in the costs of building and maintaining it. This is the cost needed to provide service, divided among our more than 11,000 members.

The flat monthly service charge helps your co-op pay for the operation and maintenance of our overall electric system. This means making YOUR electricity reliable when YOU want it. This cost includes combating cybersecurity threats and building and maintaining poles, substations, and other equipment. All of this takes strategic planning and significant resources. It not only pays for the purchase and installation of that equipment, but the replacement, maintenance, and repair, so you can enjoy power available 99% of the time. 

All members pay it to help recover some of the fixed costs of our electric grid, like having the electric facilities available to provide electric service even before the first electron is needed.

Think of the service charge like property taxes. 

Property taxes help pay for road construction and maintenance, police and fire protection, and other such services. If you’re away from home for a month, do you get to waive property taxes for that month? No, you still owe property taxes even if you’re not at the property. That’s because the county/township/village still incurred the costs of making those roads and services available. 

The service charge is necessary to keep our finances healthy, so we can continue to make investments in our distribution system and ensure power reliability for years to come. 

 

Power Cost Adjustment

This is not directly a Midwest Electric charge; it reflects changes in the cost we have to pay for the generation and transmission of electricity. This includes the cost of fuels to generate electricity; high voltage transmission to move the electricity from the generating plant to our local substation; and peak demand costs when electric use is high for all members. You can lower this charge through energy efficiency measures, including our energy audits. You can also help us manage this charge by joining our load management program. 

 

Community Connection Fund - RoundUp

Participating Community Connection Fund members opt to “round up” their electric bill to the next highest dollar, with those pennies going to our Community Conncetion trust fund. This spare change is allocated quarterly and donated to local charitable causes such as fire departments, food pantries, libraries, playgrounds, and more. NO administrative fees are taken. A separate board of Midwest members reviews applications and makes fund decisions. It’s truly our “neighbors helping neighbors” co-op philosophy in action.

 

Other Features (kWh comparisons and weather)

We also include a snapshot of your electric usage history and the average temperature with each bill so you can compare the current month’s use to the last month and the same month of the year prior. We hope this will help members understand why their bills increased or decreased, as they can analyze what they did differently in their homes each month (and see how weather impacts their bill.).

You can get a more detailed electric use history, including your daily and hourly use history, by logging into your SmartHub account or mobile app.

 

Rates

Learn more about our rates by visiting our Rates and Fees Page.

 

You can get a more detailed electric use history, including your daily and hourly use history, by logging into your SmartHub account or mobile app.

Have questions? Call 800-962-3830. Let us help you understand the bill you receive each month. 

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06029 County Road 33A
Saint Marys, OH 45885
Hours: 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Phone: 1-800-962-3830 | 419-394-4110
Fax: 419-394-8333

Proud to be a 5-Star Co-op

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©2023 Midwest Electric, Inc. A Touchstone Energy® Cooperative

  • My Home
    • SmartHub
    • Ways to Pay
      • Payment Assistance
    • Rates & Billing
    • Meter Installations
  • My Business
    • SmartHub
    • Rates & Billing
    • Economic Development
    • Peak Load Management
    • Rebates
  • My Co-op
    • Who We Are
    • New Electric Service
    • Electric Service Areas
    • Electric Rates & Fees
    • Retail Energy Choice Explained
    • Patronage Cash Back
      • Joint Memberships for Married Couples
    • Annual Meeting & Co-op Board
    • Member Appreciation Day & ACRE Political Action Breakfast
    • Political Action
    • Monthly Publications
    • National Family Month Giveaways
    • Careers
  • My Community
    • Community Connection Fund
    • Scholarships
    • Need a Speaker?
    • Kids Corner
    • Schools and Teachers
  • My Energy
    • Renewable Energy
    • Energy Calculators
    • Energy Audits & Tips
    • Rebates & Incentives
    • Cool Returns
    • Peak Alerts and Load Management
    • Load Management Switches
    • Understanding Demand
    • Builders and Contractors
    • Power Surge Protection
  • Safety
    • Call Before You Dig
    • Safety Tips
    • Safety Demos
    • Electric Meters
    • Generators & Switches
    • If Your Power Goes Out
    • Life Support Equipment
    • Trees and Power Lines
    • Weather Ready: Winter Storms
  • FAQs
    • Member FAQs
    • Submit a Question
    • Request Information
    • Giveaway Official Rules
  • Contact Us