Rates

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:

• Trucks, wire, transformers and power poles needed to build and maintain the electric distribution system.

• Labor to build and maintain the lines.

• Cost of insurance, interest, and taxes.

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.

The bill will have separate line items showing Wholesale Power Cost and Residential Service.

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

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

So, what is the availability charge? All electric utilities have in fixed expenses associated with providing safe and reliable electric service. These expenses are incurred whether the member uses the electric service every day or just a few weekends per year.

These expenses include: 1) 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); 2) annual depreciation of these facilities; 3) principal and interest payments on the long-term debt to build the facilities originally; and 4) expenses related to customer accounting, meter reading, and billing.

The availability charge lets you, the member, know up-front part of what it costs to have electricity available at your meter each month. This fixed amount also prevents an undue financial burden from being placed on active members using regular amounts of electricity by those members who want electricity available, but may not use very much. We will continue to control costs and operations as much as possible to keep any future increase to a minimum.

Effective as of 2010

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.

December 2020 Rate - Changes Monthly

For more information or questions about our Rate Schedule, please Contact Us.

• Rate – 11A

  Residential Single Phase

  kWh Charge - 0.0783

  Availability Charge - $21.00

• Rate – 11C

  Residential Three Phase

  kWh Charge - 0.0783

  Availability Charge - $40.00

• Rate – 42A

  General Service Single Phase <24.99 KW

  kWh Charge - 0.0783

  Availability Charge - $21.00

• Rate – 42C

  General Service Three Phase <24.99 KW

  kWh Charge - 0.0783

  Availability Charge - $40.00

• Rate – 4GA

  General Service Small Single Phase <24.99 KW

  kWh Charge - 0.0783

  Availability Charge - $21.00

• Rate – 4GC

  General Service Small Three Phase <24.99 KW

  kWh Charge - 0.0783

  Availability Charge - $40.00

• Rate – 4CA

  General Service Community Single Phase

  kWh Charge - 0.0870

  Availability Charge - $21.00

• Rate – 4CC

  General Service Community Three Phase

  kWh Charge - 0.0870

  Availability Charge - $40.00

• Rate – 43A

  General Service Medium Single Phase 25-149 KW

  kWh Charge - 0.0406

  Demand Charge - $9.30

  Availability Charge - $50.00

• Rate – 43C

  General Service Medium Three Phase 25-149 KW

  kWh Charge - 0.0406

  Demand Charge - $9.30

  Availability Charge - $50.00

• Rate – 44C

  General Service Large Three Phase >149 KW

  kWh Charge - 0.0355

  Demand Charge - $11.85

  Availability Charge - $200.00

*** All demand accounts have a 75% ratchet.

* Rates vary each month based on PCRF - Power Cost Recovery Factor

What is PCRF?

PCRF stands for Power Cost Recovery Factor, a.k.a. fuel cost. This is the portion of your bill that varies each month based on the cost of fuel to generate electricity. This factor rises and falls as fuel costs move up and down.

Monthly PCRF:

December 2020 - (0.028345)

November 2020 - (0.02949)

October 2020 - (0.027621)

September 2020 - (0.026016)

August 2020 - (0.026811)

July 2020 - (0.028992)

June 2020 - (0.030642)

April 2020 - (0.033062)

January 2020 - (0.027148)

December 2019 - (0.026908)

November 2019 - (0.027015)

October 2019 - (0.024779)

September 2019 - (0.02483)

August 2019 - (0.024889)

July 2019 - (0.024724)

June 2019 - (0.024751)

May 2019 - (0.024794)

April 2019 - (0.025103)