Environment, Generation and Gas Costs Affect Our Rates

On May 1, 2007, Access Energy Cooperative will implement a rate adjustment. We place a strong emphasis on providing you with exceptional service, and we only consider an adjustment when we really have to. To maintain the safety, quality, reliability and integrity of the services we provide, it is necessary for us to adjust our pricing structure.

The rate adjustment is being driven by an increase in the cost to purchase power. The largest factors driving this increase in wholesale power costs involve:

• Installation of costly equipment in existing power plants for air quality improvements and to protect our environment for the future;
• Increased demand for electricity resulting in the need for construction of a new coal-fired power plant;
• Volatile gas prices are resulting in a drastic increase in the cost to run natural gas generation facilities.

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
Commitment to community and being environmentally responsible has always been important to Access Energy Cooperative and its power supplier, Associated Electric Cooperative, Inc., (AECI) and our members.

We have taken an aggressive approach to improve air quality and need to install costly equipment on existing power plants to reach the following goals:
•Sulfur reductions by about 70% by 2015;
•Nitrous oxide emissions reductions by 60% by 2015;
•Reduction of mercury emissions by 69% by 2018.

 These pollution controls will allow us to comply with legislative rules and are expected to cost about 580 million dollars.

MORE POWER GENERATION NEEDED
AECI continuously analyzes coal, gas, and renewable options for the most efficient method of generating electricity. It is their mission to provide a reasonably priced, reliable power supply and support services to members.
 Based on AECI’s system-wide growth analysis, planning reveals the need for a new base load coal generation plant that is scheduled to come on line in about 2013. The new power plant is expected to cost 1.3 Billion dollars.

VOLATILE GAS PRICES
AECI benefits from diversified generation resources. Natural gas resources have been an asset in providing immediate and peaking power and have enabled the cooperative to meet members’ growing load demand thus far. The volatility in gas pricing has had a significant impact on the cost to run these generation units.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding the implementation of this rate adjustment, we encourage you to call our office at 319-385-1577 or toll-free at 1-866-242-4232. We will do our best to answer your questions and we look forward to working with you on ways that you may be able to reduce your monthly bill.

If you are interested in asking us to assist you in finding ways to save energy in your home by conducting a free energy audit, please contact us. We also offer a budget billing system, auto payment system, on-line banking and credit card payments to help make managing your bills easier.