The best way to control your expenses on electricity is to understand how you are billed.
Understanding your bill is the first step in knowing how to control your energy use, and the amount of your bill. In general, an Access Energy Cooperative residential bill is comprised of three parts: BASE CHARGE, ENERGY CHARGE, and DEMAND CHARGE. At this time, the cooperative does not have a fee associated with the demand charge. It is provided on your bill so you are aware of how much demand your account puts on your cooperative’s system. Demand can be thought of as the total amount of energy you require of the system at one time. If you added up the amount of the kWhs of each electrical thing running at one time, that would be your demand for that moment. The demand shown on your bill is the highest KW of a 15-minute period during the month for your account.
For a detailed and interactive way to look at what the current Access Energy Cooperative bill looks like, with an explanation of each piece, click here.