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Sam Houston EC's Electricity Price Will Remain the Same in March


 Sam Houston EC's Electricity Price Will Remain the Same in March

While the price per kilowatt-hour will not change on Co-op members’ next bill, members will likely see larger bills due to due to consuming many more kilowatt-hours during the recent Arctic blast.

As you probably know by now, almost all of Sam Houston EC’s 6,000 miles of power lines are in MISO (Midcontinent Independent System Operator), which spans from our area in the south, up through the middle of the U.S. Utilities in MISO did experience power outages and increased wholesale power costs during the recent extreme cold, but not as severe as the outages and price spikes seen in the Texas ERCOT grid.

Because Sam Houston EC is located outside of the ERCOT deregulated electricity market, our Co-op members are not subject to the extreme wholesale price spikes and the type of pricing plans that are causing some ERCOT consumers to potentially pay hundreds of times more for electricity they consumed during the severe cold. And because Sam Houston EC is not-for-profit, consumer-owned, and financially sound, the Co-op can take steps to mitigate the effects of higher wholesale power costs by spreading them out over time.

Sam Houston EC purchases power through ETEC, a generation and transmission cooperative, which utilizes a diverse and balanced portfolio that includes electricity generated by natural gas, coal, renewables, and purchased power agreements. This approach helps to maintain stable power prices for our Co-op members, and it helps to reduce the impact of wholesale price spikes during major weather events.

So while the intense Arctic blast didn’t leave the Co-op completely unscathed, we will come through it far better than most. For that, and for you our Co-op members, we are thankful.