As a member-owned cooperative, Riverland Energy is committed to controlling costs and purchasing electricity at the lowest prices available. When the co-op exceeds its financially needed margins, it is returned to you as a power-cost-adjustment (PCA) credit on your monthly electric bill. At the November board meeting, the board approved an additional $200,000 in credits back to the membership as our power costs have been less than anticipated.

The PCA is an optional rider to the rate schedule. It’s used when the actual costs to generate electricity are different from what was projected at the beginning of each rate year. Each month the amount and cost of power purchased and power sold are compared with the annual budget. Any variations in the actual versus projected power costs go into a formula that estimates what the PCA should be.

The PCA helps mitigate the impact to members by spreading the wholesale price variations over the projected kilowatt-hour sales that remain in the year. Calculated monthly, the PCA can be zero, positive or negative.