GCEC Headquarters

Billing Adjustment

Franchise Tax Adjustment

The amount of franchise or gross receipts tax from sales of electricity within the city charged to the Cooperative by any city, town or village shall be surcharged to the Cooperative’s member in the city, town or village. All bills for services rendered within a municipality shall be adjusted by the same percentage as any franchise or gross receipts tax the Cooperative is obligated to pay the municipality.

Power Factor Adjustment

Demand charges may be adjusted if the power factor is lower than 90%. Measured demand may be increased by 1% for each 1% by which the power factor is less than 90% lagging for any 15 consecutive minutes. This adjustment shall not be applied on loads of less than 25 kW.

Overbilling & Underbilling

If billings for electric service are found to differ from the Cooperative’s lawful rates for the service being purchased by the member, or if the Cooperative fails to bill the member for such service, a billing adjustment shall be calculated by the Cooperative.

If the member is due a refund, an adjustment shall be made for the entire period of the overcharges. If an overcharge is adjusted by the Cooperative within 3 billing cycles of the bill in error, interest shall not accrue. Unless otherwise provided in this section, if an overcharge is not adjusted by the Cooperative within 3 billing cycles of the bill in error, interest shall be applied to the amount of the overcharge. The interest rate shall be based on average of prime commercial paper rates, for the previous 12-month period. Interest on overcharges that are not adjusted by the Cooperative within 3 billing cycles of the bill in error shall accrue from the date of payment, unless the Cooperative chooses to provide interest to all of its affected members from the date of the bill in error. All interest shall be compounded annually. Interest shall not apply to budget billing plans or estimated billings. Interest shall not apply to undercharged amounts unless such amounts are found to be the result of meter tampering, bypass, or diversion by the member. Interest on undercharged amounts shall also be compounded on an annual basis and shall accrue from the date the member is found to have first tampered, bypassed or diverted energy from the meter. If the member was undercharged, the Cooperative may backbill the member for the amount which was underbilled. The backbilling is not to exceed 6 months unless the Cooperative can produce records to identify and justify the additional amount of backbilling or unless such undercharge is a result of meter tampering, bypassing or diversion by the member. However, the Cooperative may not disconnect service if the member fails to pay charges arising from an underbilling more than 6 months prior to the date the Cooperative initially notified the member/consumer of the amount of the undercharge and the total additional amount due, unless such undercharge is a result of meter tampering, bypassing or diversion by the member. If the underbilling is $25 or more, the Cooperative may offer the member a deferred payment plan option for the same length of time as that of the underbilling.

Sales Tax

All bills shall be adjusted by the amount of any sales tax or other tax attributable to the sale of electric service to the member unless member has previously provided to the Cooperative satisfactory proof of exemption.

Power Cost Recovery Factor (PCRF)

The monthly charges shall be increased or decreased on a uniform per kWh basis computed monthly as follows:

PCRF = (A-B+/-C)/kWh's

Where:

  • PCRF = Power Cost Recovery Factor (expressed in $ per kWh) to be applied to estimated energy sales for the billing period.
  • A = Total estimated purchased electricity cost from all suppliers including fuel for the billing period.
  • B = Total estimated purchased electricity cost from all suppliers including fuel which are included in the Cooperative’s base rates. The base power cost is computed as: B = (D)(kWh’s)
  • D = Base power cost in $/kWh sold of $.080601 kWh’s = Total estimated energy sales for billing period.
  • C = Adjustment to be applied to the current monthly billing to account for differences in actual purchased electricity costs and actual PCRF revenues recovered in previous periods.