10
in other words
february21
2013
The Sounding Board: Are We Paying Too Much for Our Electrical Service?
By Nick Galaday
This year we are paying
WOEC 2.42 times as much to
bring us our electricity than did
the average Oregon electric co-
op member in 2011! Some of
us have gathered together to try
to do something about it. When
we combine our very high cost
of electricity with our similarly
high cost of sewer and water, our
combined utility costs make living
in Vernonia financially quite
unattractive. It’s easy to see why
the value of our homes continues
to fall while the housing market is
making somewhat of a comeback
elsewhere. We absolutely must do
something about our high utility
costs if we expect Vernonia to
grow and attract new investment.
Taking on one problem
at a time, a few of us have joined
together to do what we can to
find out why our electricity
costs so much and what we can do about it. We are
calling ourselves “The Power of One” and meet a
few times each month to plan how we can do this.
If you’d like to join us, please visit our blog http://
utilitymembershippowerof1.blogspot.com/, or call
Sally Harrison for information about our next meeting
(503) 429-8425. You are also encouraged to contact
your WOEC board member and ask them why we pay
so much more than other Oregonians for the same
electricity.
http://www.westoregon.org/about-us/
board-of-directors/
A little explanation about the graph: First, the
2011 data (the most recent data available) was gathered
from the Oregon State Public Utilities Commission
stat book. The listed values are each co-ops’ charge
for service to their average residential customer, minus
the 3.5 cents it costs them for the power
itself. We all pay 3.5 cents per KWH for
the energy itself. The difference comes
in when our particular co-op charges us
to transport this energy to our meter from
where they get it. Some co-ops do this
pretty efficiently (Like Harney Elec. –
Bighorn Logging
since 1981
in yellow, for < 3¢/KWH), while
others like WOEC ( in red, 11.5¢/
KWH) spend more than twice as
much as the average Oregon co-
op (in green, < 5¢/KWH) to do
the same thing. WOEC is even
174% of the next highest co-op
(Clearwater Power – in gold,
6.58¢/KWH).
As an example of how I
calculated all these values, here
is how we get 11.5¢/KWH for
WOEC’s 2013 price for transport:
WOEC states the average
residential customer in 2011 used
1125 KWH/mo. WOEC charges
13.75¢/KWH for the first 500
KWH. And they charge 10.41¢/
KWH for the next 625 KWH.
Now add the $35 they charge as
a flat monthly service fee and
we get $168.81 for our average
customer’s 1125 KWH, or 15¢/
KWH. Now subtract the 3.5¢ for
the power itself and we get 11.5¢/
KWH - just to transport it! All
the other co-ops’ values were calculated in this same
way. From this chart we can graphically see how well
WOEC compares with its sister co-ops in the state at
efficiently bringing us our BPA electricity.
Doernbecher Dash
10k Run, 5k Walk or Run
Sat, April 13, 2013 9:00 AM
Starts at Anderson Park, Vernonia
(The course is the same as the Bear Creek Run)
Cost is $20, Register online at the VHS website
This run is being organized by
VHS Student Body President Samantha Wallace
as part of her Presidential Challenge.
All Proceeds go to
Doernbecher’s Childrens’ Hospital.
For more info contact:
Samantha Wallace
Email: sawall6@msn.com Cell: 503-369-2495
or Teri Willard: Cell: 503-941-6804
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