Bob Pierce answers questions about energy efficiency, consumer products, and cooperative governance. He is Clearwater Power’s Chief Operating Officer and welcomes your questions on our Ask Bob page.
Q: Why did you reduce rates in December?
A: Clearwater Power had stronger than anticipated sales in 2022. This was caused by factors like colder than normal weather and higher than normal growth in our residential sector.
Since we are a not-for-profit cooperative, our board of directors approved returning some excess margins back to our members. We did this by reducing the energy rate on your bill by 25% for one month. For example, our residential rate is normally 9.04 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh), but for December, we reduced it down to 6.78 cents per kWh. This is why most members’ bills were less than normal, even though it was significantly colder than normal during the December billing period.
This reduction was for the energy rate only. It does not change other charges like the service availability charge or the demand charge.
The January bill, which you will receive at the beginning of February, will be back to normal rates. The good news is we do not anticipate any rate increases in 2023.