Welcome to Heart of Texas Electric's Rates page, a one-stop-understanding on how we calculate your electric bill each month. From Appliance Power Costs to our Rates Schedule and beyond, it's all here for you.

Simply, Heart of Texas Electric Cooperative only charges you for the amount of electricity you use.

We calculate your bill by multiplying the amount of electricity you use (measured in kilowatt-hours) by the price of electricity (charge per kilowatt-hour).

rates

 

Determining how much electricity your appliances and home electronics use can help you understand how much money you are spending to use them. Most appliances and other electrical equipment have a nameplate that indicates the power requirements.

Once you have your data, calculate the cost of use with this formula: 

Multiply the device's wattage by the number of hours the appliance is used per day and divide that by 1000. Take that number and  multiply it by your kWh rate.

For single phase equipment (any residential equipment):

  • Watts = volts x amps

For three phase equipment (found in some commercial and most industrial equipment):

  • Watts = volts x amps x 1.732 (1.732 is the square root of 3)

To determine the cost of running an appliance, use these formulas:

  • Wattage x Hours Used / 1000 = kWh
  • kWh x cost of electricity = cost

Membership Fee

$ 5.00

Connect Fee

$50.00

Collection Fee

$50.00

Late Payment Fee on Residential

$10.00

Late Payment Fee on Commercial

5%

Disconnect For Non-Pay Fee

$50.00

Reconnect Fee

$50.00

Termination Notice Trip Charge

$50.00

After Hours Fee (after 4:00PM)

$75.00

Returned Check Fee

$25.00

  • Any customer having a check or other form of payment dishonored more than once in a 12-month period may be required to pay by cash or cash-equivalent for the ensuing year.  Checks returned to us for insufficient funds are subject to disconnection immediately.
  • If your account is disconnected for nonpayment, a deposit equal to 1/6 of your annual billing may be required in addition to the other fees.

What is PCRF?
Power Cost Recovery Factor "PCRF" is the portion of your bill that will vary monthly based on the current power, transmission and substation cost versus the established cost at the time of our most recent cost of service study.

What is SCRF?
Securitization Cost Recovery Factor "SCRF" is a billing component required to recover monies used to service the debt incurred due to the extraordinary wholesale power cost from Winter Storm URI.

Date PCRF SCRF Total PCRF
March 2024 0.0054860 .00921 0.014696
February 2024 0.0097950 .00921 0.019005
January 2024 0.0029450 .00921 0.012155
December 2023 0.00309 .01574 0.01883
November 2023 0.002806 .01574 0.018545
October 2023 0.034310 .01574 0.019171
September 2023 0.003869 .01574 0.019609
August 2023 0.005793 .01574 0.021533
July 2023 0.005424 .01574 0.021164
June 2023 0.005397 .02094 0.026337
May 2023 (0.0002) .02094 0.02074
April 2023 0.008473 .02094 0.029413
March 2023 0.010592 .02094 0.031532
February 2023 0.009702 .02094 0.030642
January 2023 0.009368 .02094 0.030308
December 2022 0.012109 --- 0.012109
November 2022 (0.000845) --- (0.000845)
October 2022 (0.000052) --- (0.000052)
September 2022 0.01075 --- 0.01075
August 2022 0.019878 --- 0.019878
July 2022 0.019429 --- 0.019429
June 2022 0.014352 --- 0.014352
May 2022 0.000903 --- 0.000903
April 2022 0.000694 --- 0.000694
March 2022 0.000464 --- 0.000464
February 2022 0.004571 --- 0.004571
January 2022 (0.00255) --- (0.00255)
December 2021 (0.004786) --- (0.004786)
November 2021 (0.015592) --- (0.015592)
October 2021 (0.018363) --- (0.018363)
September 2021 (0.018484) --- (0.018484)
August 2021 (0.018707) --- (0.018707)
July 2021 (0.019005) --- (0.019005)
June 2021 (0.023356) --- (0.023356)
May 2021 (0.024026) --- (0.024026)
April 2021 (0.024445) --- (0.024445)
March 2021 (0.027882) --- (0.027882)
February 2021 (0.029959) --- (0.029959)
January 2021 (0.02838) --- (0.02838)

March 2024 Rates

These are the currently approved Tariff Rates which do not include Total PCRF (see above section).

For more information or questions about our Rate Schedule, please email us.

  • Residential 1 PH

    kWh Charge - 0.1066

    Availability Charge - $21.00

  • Residential 3 PH

    kWh Charge - 0.1066

    Availability Charge - $40.00

  • General Service Single Phase less than 24.99 kW

    kWh Charge - 0.1066

    Availability Charge - $21.00

  • General Service Three Phase less than 24.99 kW

    kWh Charge - 0.1066

    Availability Charge - $40.00

  • General Service Small Single Phase less than 24.99 kW

    kWh Charge - 0.1066

    Availability Charge - $21.00

  • General Service Small Three Phase less than 24.99 kW

    kWh Charge - 0.1066

    Availability Charge - $40.00

  • General Service Community Single Phase

    kWh Charge - 0.1153

    Availability Charge - $21.00

  • General Service Community Three Phase

    kWh Charge - 0.1153

    Availability Charge - $40.00

  • General Service Medium Single Phase from 25-149 KW

    kWh Charge - 0.0689

    Demand Charge - $9.30 per KW

    Availability Charge - $50.00

  • General Service Medium Three Phase from 25-149 KW

    kWh Charge - 0.0689

    Demand Charge - $9.30 per KW

    Availability Charge - $50.00

  • General Service Large Three Phase greater than 149 KW

    kWh Charge - 0.0638

    Demand Charge - $11.85 per KW

    Availability Charge - $200.00

Note: All demand accounts have a 75% ratchet.

Security Light Charges (Monthly Charge)

 

LED Security Light

$10.53                                

175 Watt Mercury Vapor Bulb (Closed Rate)

$11.84 

100 Watt High Pressure Sodium Bulb

$11.05

400 Watt High Pressure Sodium Bulb (Closed Rate)

$24.21

1000 Watt High Pressure Sodium Bulb (Closed Rate)

$60.53

Installation Fees (Security Lights) 

 

Installation with Line Extension

$75.00 + applicable tax

Installation of New Security Light

$150.00 + applicable tax

Connect Existing Security Light

$50.00

Residential/General Service Charge

The Residential Service line will show the local costs the cooperative incurs for distributing power from the substation to your meter. This section will include an availability charge. The availability charge covers the fixed costs of having poles, lines and meters in place.

Availability Charge

The availability charge is a monthly charge that HOTEC members pay to help cover the basic cost of bringing electricity to their location. It covers some of the expenses the cooperative incurs regardless of how much electricity is sold. The charge helps cover such things as:

  • On-going operation and maintenance of the electrical distribution' system required to bring you electricity at the flip of a switch (hence the name, availability charge);

  • Annual depreciation of these facilities;

  • Principal and interest payments on the long-term debt to build the facilities originally;

  • Expenses related to customer accounting, meter reading, and billing.

Because all cooperative members benefit from having reliable electric service available when they need it, the availability charge allows everyone to pay a share of the basic costs.

Members sometimes ask why HOTEC's availability charge is higher than neighboring electric utilities. It's because of our low consumer density; HOTEC serves an average of six customers per mile of line. Compare this to a city where the average density is easily more than 30 customers per mile of line. It is always more economical to serve areas of higher density. However, HOTEC's average rates remain competitive with those neighboring utilities.

HOTEC serves a diverse membership. Some of our members use a lot of electricity all year long, and some may use electricity only one or two months per year. Whether you use a lot or a little, the cost of getting electric power to your location remains the same. And that is why your electric bill has two separate charges: the availability charge to cover basic costs, and the per kWh charge for the actual amount of electricity consumed.

We hope this brief explanation helps answer your questions about the availability charge portion of your electric bill. Please call us if you have any billing questions.

Wholesale Power Cost

The Wholesale Power Cost line will show the cost of power purchased by the power supplier to Heart of Texas Electric Cooperative, which includes generation, transmission, and independent system operator (ISO) fees.