The intent of the Service Availability Charge is to recover the fixed costs of providing service to our members. This includes the operation, maintenance and replacement of equipment like substations, poles and wires used to deliver power to a member’s home. These costs are incurred regardless of how much electricity is used each month.  

  • The cost of the infrastructure needed to serve our members remains the same regardless of the amount of power a member uses. 

  • As a not-for-profit cooperative we work to ensure that one member does not subsidize another member. If we had a lower SAC it would require a higher energy charge, which means members using more electricity would pay for more than their share of the cooperative’s fixed costs. This kind of rate structure would also create a subsidy for those members who install distributed generation at their homes, like rooftop solar or wind. We believe that our rates need to be structured so that all members pay their share of the cooperative’s fixed costs, regardless of their electric use or interest in installing renewable resources.