Paulding Putnam Electric Cooperative’s Board of Trustees approved the 2022 operating and capital budget at the meeting held on November 10, 2021. Total operating revenues were budgeted at $45.7 million, and capital improvements were $7.5 million. About $2.3 million in capital credits retirements were also approved, which current and former members will see in December.
The budget includes a slight increase to the monthly residential service charge. Effective January 1, 2022, the service charge will be $35 (previously $32.95). This is PPEC’s first increase since 2018 and represents an increase of 1.2% on the average residential member.
“It’s always a difficult decision to increase rates; however, due to increasing costs to provide member service, it was necessary to increase our monthly service charge,” said PPEC CEO and President George Carter. “This is our first rate increase in four years, and costs have significantly increased over that time – especially due to the pandemic.”
Carter stated that wholesale power costs are the co-op’s largest expenses – and they continue to increase. These are the costs associated with power generation and transmission of electricity to PPEC’s local substations. These cost increases are a “pass-through” expense and are recovered in the Wholesale Power Cost Adjustment (WPCA) on member bills.
As always, keeping the lights on at an affordable rate is the cooperative’s top priority; however, the cost of keeping the system up-to-date is expensive. Highlights from the new capital budget include:
• Rebuilding over twenty miles of old copper line
• Improvements to both Convoy and Columbus Grove substations
• Extensive underground line extensions into the expanding subdivisions in New Haven, Indiana
• Testing 4,800 poles in Paulding County
“The accounting department does an outstanding job of putting together the annual budgets, and our management team is very diligent in following those budgets,” said PPEC Board Chairman John Saxton. “The Board understands that members are sensitive to rate increases, but overall, the cooperative is financially strong and a 1% rate increase in 4 years shows that fiscal responsibility.”
As a not-for-profit, member-owned utility, PPEC returns excess funds back to members in the form of capital credits. Also approved during the board meeting was a $2.3 million retirement of capital credits (representing each member’s equity in the co-op) back to PPEC members, based on their past electric usage. Eligible current members will see a credit on their December bills; former members will receive a check.
Please call PPEC at 800-686-2357 for more information or visit the co-op website at www.PPEC.coop.
