Changes coming to Barry Electric customers with Shift and $ave program
Customers could see savings on their bills
July 18, 2018
Charlea Estes-Jones
Barry Electric Cooperative is making a change that will impact how customers’ bills are itemized, providing a chance to save money through their Shift and $ave program. Mark Aeilts, Barry Electric’s CEO and general manager, said the program is designed to give customers more fair pricing for their electric needs.
The program is broken down into two parts: fair pricing and Shift to $ave. The fair pricing aspect applies to how customers within the cooperative are currently billed for their electricity. Currently, all customers pay the same per kilowatt hour on their bills. However, electricity used during on-peak times (weekdays from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.) costs the cooperative as a whole more.
Customers using more than one large appliance during that on-peak time are driving up costs for all cooperative customers since everyone pays the same for the use, regardless of time. Aeilts explained that heavy on-peak users, usually larger businesses with larger than average transformers, drive up cost of electricity that everyone else has to pay.
He said, “Instead of socializing 33 percent of the cost to all cooperative members, the people who use it during the on-peak period pay for it.”
The average change will be around $7 for the typical electric bill. Meaning if users change nothing about their electricity use, they could see an extra/less $7 on a $130 bill once the program is implemented.
For most customers, the changes won’t take place until next year sometime. Aeilts explained, “We’re starting with about 1,200 customers that are larger transformer sizes. Then we’ll do the other 8,500 meters as soon as possible next year. We don’t want to roll it out to everyone until we’ve gone through a sample size to make sure everything is accurate.”
The remaining meters will have the bill changes as the cooperative is certain the billing is accurate since it’ll be a change to their system.
Aeilts said customers will see a change to line items in their bills before any prices change. The different will be in the price per kilowatt hour and a charge for on-peak usage. Initially, the kilowatt per hour charge is changing from $0.09 to $0.087. Over the next five years, the price will drop down to $0.06.
The second aspect of the billing will be a $1/kilowatt hour charge for the highest on-peak usage during the month. For example, if the highest usage a customer has during peak time is 10 kWh, they will see a $10 charge on their bill.
Aeilts said the way customers are currently billed is $1.30 per day and $0.09 per kWh, but it’s all included in one line item on the bill. Eventually, customers will see that broken down into two line items: on-peak usage and overall power used throughout the month.
He said, “We’ve only had one line item on bills. We’ve had your energy use and your service availability. That will get broken into two. You see $1.30 per day and $0.09 for power. Then you’ll have another two line items. An on-peak demand charge and an off peak charge. Those two will be blank to start.
“Long before we put dollars on your bill, you’ll see those line items. That way you can see you’re using on-peak 10 kWh and off peak you’re using 5 kWh and make changes if you want.
“Then finally, we’ll pull the trigger and it’ll actually multiply it out. We know when that’ll happen in 2019, we know we’ll do it as soon as we can, but we’re not going to do it until the bill printer can do it accurately. Line items that have units and then dollars.”
He continued, “Our costs are driven by that time of use between 2 and 6 p.m. during the week. We are trying to pass through this fair pricing. We know how to charge you differently, we just need to do it.
“We need to charge each person for what they use on peak and charge less 85 percent of the time.”
The cooperative will see about a half-cent decrease overall, but individual customers will see the changes on their bills based on their use.
Bills will be itemized prior to the billing changes going into effect. Aeilts said that will give cooperative members the chance to participate in the second part of the program if they choose: Shift and $ave.
Aeilts explained, “Right now, if you are a customer out there and you wanted to conserve electricity, you just turn things off. If you wanted to be more efficient you might change your bulbs from incandescent to LED bulbs. Obviously those things will still exist.
“But in the future, you can use this as a tool. You can levelize your use during on-peak to save money. You’ll be using electricity on sale 85 percent of the time.
“If you don’t do anything, that’s fine. You can keep doing that. If you only want to use one major appliance through that on-peak time, you could save money. If you want to shift, great. If you don’t want to, that’s fine, too.”
Aeilts said the main reason is ensuring the cooperative is charging fair prices to each individual member.
He said, “If you are the senior center, you’re not really using any energy between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. You might have a refrigerator and freezer, but you’re not using heavily during our peak time period. The senior center is an example of who shouldn’t have to pay during peak time.”
The first round of customers to see bill changes will get those in October. The rest of the cooperative will see them in 2019. Aeilts said, “We’re doing this very slowly. This is only an education level of implementation.”
He went on to talk more about the benefits of the program. “Without behavior change, consistent users are going to save money. Let’s say you’re a family of five and you can’t change anything. You’ve got school and sports and you don’t want to change anything. You don’t have to. You’re going to save anyway. You’re not having to socialize anyone else’s use,” he said.
Customers may see line items changes to their bills as soon as August 1.
Charlea Estes-Jones
Barry Electric Cooperative is making a change that will impact how customers’ bills are itemized, providing a chance to save money through their Shift and $ave program. Mark Aeilts, Barry Electric’s CEO and general manager, said the program is designed to give customers more fair pricing for their electric needs.
The program is broken down into two parts: fair pricing and Shift to $ave. The fair pricing aspect applies to how customers within the cooperative are currently billed for their electricity. Currently, all customers pay the same per kilowatt hour on their bills. However, electricity used during on-peak times (weekdays from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.) costs the cooperative as a whole more.
Customers using more than one large appliance during that on-peak time are driving up costs for all cooperative customers since everyone pays the same for the use, regardless of time. Aeilts explained that heavy on-peak users, usually larger businesses with larger than average transformers, drive up cost of electricity that everyone else has to pay.
He said, “Instead of socializing 33 percent of the cost to all cooperative members, the people who use it during the on-peak period pay for it.”
The average change will be around $7 for the typical electric bill. Meaning if users change nothing about their electricity use, they could see an extra/less $7 on a $130 bill once the program is implemented.
For most customers, the changes won’t take place until next year sometime. Aeilts explained, “We’re starting with about 1,200 customers that are larger transformer sizes. Then we’ll do the other 8,500 meters as soon as possible next year. We don’t want to roll it out to everyone until we’ve gone through a sample size to make sure everything is accurate.”
The remaining meters will have the bill changes as the cooperative is certain the billing is accurate since it’ll be a change to their system.
Aeilts said customers will see a change to line items in their bills before any prices change. The different will be in the price per kilowatt hour and a charge for on-peak usage. Initially, the kilowatt per hour charge is changing from $0.09 to $0.087. Over the next five years, the price will drop down to $0.06.
The second aspect of the billing will be a $1/kilowatt hour charge for the highest on-peak usage during the month. For example, if the highest usage a customer has during peak time is 10 kWh, they will see a $10 charge on their bill.
Aeilts said the way customers are currently billed is $1.30 per day and $0.09 per kWh, but it’s all included in one line item on the bill. Eventually, customers will see that broken down into two line items: on-peak usage and overall power used throughout the month.
He said, “We’ve only had one line item on bills. We’ve had your energy use and your service availability. That will get broken into two. You see $1.30 per day and $0.09 for power. Then you’ll have another two line items. An on-peak demand charge and an off peak charge. Those two will be blank to start.
“Long before we put dollars on your bill, you’ll see those line items. That way you can see you’re using on-peak 10 kWh and off peak you’re using 5 kWh and make changes if you want.
“Then finally, we’ll pull the trigger and it’ll actually multiply it out. We know when that’ll happen in 2019, we know we’ll do it as soon as we can, but we’re not going to do it until the bill printer can do it accurately. Line items that have units and then dollars.”
He continued, “Our costs are driven by that time of use between 2 and 6 p.m. during the week. We are trying to pass through this fair pricing. We know how to charge you differently, we just need to do it.
“We need to charge each person for what they use on peak and charge less 85 percent of the time.”
The cooperative will see about a half-cent decrease overall, but individual customers will see the changes on their bills based on their use.
Bills will be itemized prior to the billing changes going into effect. Aeilts said that will give cooperative members the chance to participate in the second part of the program if they choose: Shift and $ave.
Aeilts explained, “Right now, if you are a customer out there and you wanted to conserve electricity, you just turn things off. If you wanted to be more efficient you might change your bulbs from incandescent to LED bulbs. Obviously those things will still exist.
“But in the future, you can use this as a tool. You can levelize your use during on-peak to save money. You’ll be using electricity on sale 85 percent of the time.
“If you don’t do anything, that’s fine. You can keep doing that. If you only want to use one major appliance through that on-peak time, you could save money. If you want to shift, great. If you don’t want to, that’s fine, too.”
Aeilts said the main reason is ensuring the cooperative is charging fair prices to each individual member.
He said, “If you are the senior center, you’re not really using any energy between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. You might have a refrigerator and freezer, but you’re not using heavily during our peak time period. The senior center is an example of who shouldn’t have to pay during peak time.”
The first round of customers to see bill changes will get those in October. The rest of the cooperative will see them in 2019. Aeilts said, “We’re doing this very slowly. This is only an education level of implementation.”
He went on to talk more about the benefits of the program. “Without behavior change, consistent users are going to save money. Let’s say you’re a family of five and you can’t change anything. You’ve got school and sports and you don’t want to change anything. You don’t have to. You’re going to save anyway. You’re not having to socialize anyone else’s use,” he said.
Customers may see line items changes to their bills as soon as August 1.