Rates
Your electric rates are based on the cost of service for each rate class. It may be overstating it to say, “simply!” We have several components that drive electric rates.
- Energy-Kilowatt-hours used by the customer
- The amount of energy used or demanded by a customer over a given time. This is the peak need required by the consumer.
- Transmission-Cost to move the energy from the generator to a localized delivery point
- Distribution-Cost to distribute the energy from a localized delivery point to the end user
- Planning and Engineering-Ensuring the system is adequately built to serve the load
- Transformation-Cost to raise and lower the voltage that allow for transmission
- Administrative costs related to the entire function.
These are just a few of the major drivers in your electric rates and it is easy to get lost in the maze of electric rate making. Our job is to collect enough money from our customers to pay our bills, maintain the system in place and be prepared in the event of an emergency or storm. We are also charged by state statue to be fair and equitable to all customers. Changing load patterns, fluctuating demands on the system, drastic weather events and even distributed generation facilities can all impact the cost of service for different rate classes.
We have completed a comprehensive review at SCPPD of each individual rate class and the cost to serve that rate class. We continue to evaluate the rates and making sure that we do not subsidize one rate class with another. In order to keep each rate class fair and equitable, we sometime need to make small adjustment to individual classes. Those adjustments are based on the cost to serve the class. If it is necessary to adjust different classes we hope to have minimal impact to each customer.
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DEMAND
Beginning January 1, 2026, Stanton County Public Power District will implement a new demand charge on monthly bills for some customers who don’t already have one applied.What is Demand?
Demand Charge (expressed as “kW” or “kilowatts”): Demand, the rate at which a customer uses electricity during a specified time period, is measured by the highest rate in that billing period.
Energy Charge (expressed as “kWh” or “kilowatt-hours”): Energy charges are based on the amount of electricity a customer uses during the billing period which is expressed as kWh.
While “Demand” has appeared on your bill as a line item in the past several years, there has never been a charge associated with it. Previously, all demand costs for each rate class were grouped together and recovered through the energy (kWh) charges.
Moving forward, these costs will be “unbundled,” and the demand portion will now be shown as an active charge on your bill. This change helps ensure fairness by better reflecting the actual cost based on each customer’s unique usage pattern. Your peak demand reading will register on your meter each month and be charged at a flat fee.
What is Demand?
Demand Charge (expressed as “kW” or “kilowatts”): Demand, the rate at which a customer uses electricity during a specified time period, is measured by the highest rate in that billing period.
Energy Charge (expressed as “kWh” or “kilowatt-hours”): Energy charges are based on the amount of electricity a customer uses during the billing period which is expressed as kWh.
EXAMPLE #1
Think of it like this: You wake up in the morning, turn the washing machine on using *5 kW, start the dishwasher using another *5 kW, and jump in the shower using another *5 kW. Altogether, you demand 15 kW within a 15-minute time frame. To help save on your kW, you can first jump in the shower using 5 kW. Then, once you are done, turn on your washing machine, and as that finishes, run your dishwasher. Doing this, you are only using up 5 kW within a 15-minute time frame. Though it will take longer, you are essentially saving on your demand charge. *(Not accurate measurements, just used for simplified explanation)
EXAMPLE #2
Another way of understanding demand and consumption is with a “filling the bucket” analogy. Suppose you want to fill a 5-gallon bucket with water. You can use an inexpensive hose connection to your sink, providing 1 gallon per minute to do it, and it will take 5 minutes. Alternatively, you can opt for a more expensive, larger faucet that provides 5 gallons per minute; it will fill in just one minute. The flow rate is equivalent to demand, and the 5 gallons of water are equivalent to consumption. In this example, filling both buckets has the same “consumption” but very different “demands.”
