News Release
July 12, 2022
SBEC Members Will See Increase in G&T Rate
In the past year, consumers have all felt the effect of price increases at the gas pumps, grocery stores and with most goods. Unfortunately, these increases have been impacting wholesale power prices as well. San Bernard EC has worked diligently to keep our controllable costs as low as possible, but the price of natural gas is continuing to rise.
Due to rising costs of fuel such as natural gas and other goods and services, our generation and transmission (G&T) provider, South Texas Electric Cooperative (STEC) has increased our wholesale power price effective immediately. This cost is reflected in the G&T Charge of your bill. The G&T Charge is the amount SBEC pays to purchase power from STEC for our members. This amount is passed on to our members with no markup.
The SBEC staff and board members have reviewed options for this increase and resolved that the G&T Charge will increase with your July 2022 usage. The G&T Charge on your bill will change from $0.0865 to $0.0965 per kWh and will go into effect on your August 2022 bill. For Example: A member using 1,000 kWhs per month, will see an increase of $10.
San Bernard EC fully understands this increase combined with summer usage will impact everyone’s budget. SBEC has programs in place to help manage your usage. We encourage all members to use SmartHub. Smarthub can be found on our website or downloaded as an app on your smartphone or tablet. The Usage Alert Feature alows you to set notifications if your daily usage exceeds your settings for high and low thresholds. Other options available are Average Monthly Payment and Prepaid billing. More information on these programs can be found on our website or you can call your local SBEC office.
San Bernard EC will continue to work closely with STEC to mitigate these price increases and keep our membership informed of changes. As always, we strive to provide our members with safe and reliable service.
Please feel free to call or come by your local branch office if you have any questions.
San Bernard Electric Cooperative
1-800-364-3171