Flint Energies Announces Base Rate Change on April 1
February 06, 2012
Effective with member billings that begin on Apr. 1, Flint Energies’ base residential rate will move from $20/month to $21/month. It will be the first change in the residential base rate since April of 2000 when it increased from $17/month to $20/month.
“We have calculated the actual cost of providing service to a residential location at over $30/month,” according to Flint Energies Sr. Vice President Jimmy Autry. “We anticipate our monthly base charge to rise a bit each year as we cover these higher costs of service.”
The base charge is the fixed amount charged each billing period to cover Flint's cost of a meter, reading the meter, billing the account through data processing, and collecting and crediting payment, Autry added. The cost of a kilowatt-hour is driven by the wholesale price of the electricity generation which Flint purchases.
“We work every day to achieve operating efficiencies as we face rising power supply costs,” said Autry. “As a local, not-for-profit electric cooperative, our primary goal is to minimize the effects of potential increases while maintaining cost-effective reliable electric service that members can count on.”
“Even with the rate changes, the value of electricity remains very high,” Autry added. “Electricity’s price has risen less than many other member costs.”
Base rate schedule changes will also be in effect for the other rate schedules which have been at $20/month. Members may compare current residential rates online at http://www.psc.state.ga.us/electric/surveys/residentialrs.asp.
OPTION FOR LOW INCOME
Members who receive a LIHEAP check to help them pay for electricity can be placed on Flint’s low-income rate. After Apr. 1, members that confirm their LIHEAP standing with a check payment will be eligible for a reduced base service charge of $11 instead of $21 per month.
Members can reduce the effects of the rate increase on their electric bill through these simple tasks:
1) Conduct an online energy audit at www.flintenergies.com. Click on the Home Energy Calculator link to fill out a simple form to calculate your energy usage. By conducting the online energy audit, you can make small changes in your energy consumption to reduce the amount of your electric bill. In addition, you can receive energy saving tips via the Flint website.
2) Reducing your electric bill is as simple as changing a light bulb. For example, if you replace your five most frequently used light bulbs with energy-efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL), you could save approximately $60 a year in energy costs.
About Flint Energies
Celebrating its 75th year of service in 2012 (incorporated in 1937), Flint Energies www.flintenergies.com is a not-for-profit member-owned electric cooperative that provides energy services to residential, commercial, industrial and agricultural members in parts of 17 central Georgia counties. The Flint Appliance Center on South Houston Lake Road in Warner Robins carries a complete line of major home appliances, featuring GE Energy Star products. Flint has 240 employees and serves more than 84,400 meters. Flint's physical plant consists of more than 6,406 miles of distribution line and 50 substations located within Bibb, Chattahoochee, Crawford, Dooly, Harris, Houston, Macon, Marion, Monroe, Muscogee, Peach, Schley, Sumter, Taylor, Talbot, Twiggs and Upson Counties. The system also includes the Museum of Aviation at Robins Air Force Base and the Fort Benning military post. Flint is the eighth largest of Georgia's 42 EMCs and the 36th largest of the nation's nearly 1,000 rural electric cooperatives.
Flint Energies is also a Touchstone Energy Cooperative, part of a nationwide family of electric cooperatives exhibiting the core values of integrity, accountability, innovation and commitment to community. Flint’s members give their cooperative an American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) score of 82, which rates higher than most investor-owned utilities in the country.
The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) is a uniform and independent measure of household consumption experience. As an economic indicator, the ACSI tracks trends in customer satisfaction and provides benchmarking insights of the consumer economy for companies, industry trade associations and government agencies.” The ACSI is produced by the Stephen M. Ross Business School at the University of Michigan, in partnership with the American Society for Quality (ASQ) and the international consulting firm, CFI Group.
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Flint Energies online at www.flintenergies.com