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Legislative Policy Affects Cost of Service
For some time we have been talking about the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Portfolio Standards (REPS) which were the off-shoot of the North Carolina General Assembly’s Senate Bill 3.
This month you will begin seeing a rider listed on your monthly bill. The charge will help pay for costs associated with meeting the state mandates.The mandates require Piedmont Electric and other electric cooperatives statewide to have 10 percent of the electricity they sell generated by renewable energy sources or energy efficiency programs by 2012.
The REPS Rider applies to all of the Cooperative’s members on a per meter basis.
Piedmont Electric’s monthly REPS Rider schedule for 2009 is:
• Residential $0.47/month
• Commercial $2.35/month
• Industrial $23.51/month
We will adjust the REPS Rider annually to reflect the anticipated costs for compliance with the REPS mandate for that year for each customer class (residential, commercial and industrial).On the national level, our congressional representatives and the new administration is set to pass additional energy policies.Based on preliminary indications, these new policies could be exceedingly costly to every consumer, but most especially to those of us in the southeastern United States who depend on coal for generating electricity.
Your Board of Directors and staff are meeting with elected officials to inform them of the ramifications of proposed legislation.But, we need every Piedmont Electric member’s help to let them know your concerns about the effect of this legislation.Last year we began a grass-roots program aimed at communicating with our elected officials.It’s still vitally important we continue with this effort.
Piedmont Electric is a strong supporter of clean energy and a clean environment, but we are also committed to providing electricity at an affordable cost.We ask that you take a few minutes to contact your congressional representatives and let them know your concerns.
Check out ourenergy.coop and findabalancedsolution.com for additional information.
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It was good to see so many of you at this year’s Annual Meeting. We appreciate your support of the Cooperative, especially in these critical times. |
