Cold weather, high demand & planned rate increases lead to above average OPALCO bills
Posted January 29, 2022 at 8:02 am by Jeff Arnim
The long string of sub-freezing temperatures that hung around the island in late December are contributing to the expensive OPALCO billing statements that co-op members are about to receive. According to the utility, many customers saw their energy usage double during the most recent billing period, due primarily to the increased load placed on home heating systems.
Because demand for energy across the system was so pronounced, OPALCO was also hit with more than $300,000 in demand charges from the Bonneville Power Association, the utility’s mainland power supplier. These costs will be passed along to members as a surcharge that OPALCO refers to as an Energy Charge Adjustment.
This month’s bills will also trend higher because they are the first to reflect the four percent rate increase that was scheduled to take effect in 2022.
OPALCO staff will host an online workshop on Monday, Feb. 7 at 5 p.m. via Zoom to answer member billing questions. Register in advance by contacting communications@opalco.com. Members who need financial help can submit applications to OPALCO’s Energy Assistance Program and Project PAL.
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Categories: Around Here
2 comments:
2 comments...
We also received a bigger bill than usual. We don’t heat with electrons. Too damned many residents and aged structures/utilities wasting energy and causing the $300K BPA charge maybe?
But most importantly we did not experience days of “below zero” temperatures. Not even close. Does anyone at OPALCO proof read public statements??
That ‘below zero’ was my mistake, which I’ve fixed. I guess I was thinking in celsius.
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