Citizens Electric raises fairness issue with power supplier

Part of Citizens Electric’s core principles is to empower the communities we serve by keeping our members’ best interests in mind in all the decisions made by the Cooperative. Our employees, management, and board of directors truly take pride in serving all 27,927 members. From Thanksgiving food drives to Easter egg hunts, Citizens Electric is always looking for fun and creative ways to engage with its members and support its communities.

To further fulfill our commitment to you, Citizens Electric is challenging the rates of our power supplier, Wabash Valley Power Alliance (WVPA). Eighty cents of every dollar paid by members of Citizens Electric goes to WVPA. Citizens Electric is the largest of 23 cooperatives that own WVPA and the only WVPA member-owner in Missouri.   Wabash Valley’s wholesale power rates are currently based on a model where the cost Wabash incurs to provide service to its members is disconnected from what a member pays for service. The result is that some of WVPA’s members, like Citizens Electric, pay more than the costs it takes to serve them while other WVPA members pay less. Simply put, Citizens’ members are paying costs for electricity being used by other WVPA members and we view this approach as simply unfair.

Over the past several years, Citizens Electric has attempted to resolve this issue through Wabash Valley’s internal governance processes and seek compromise while advocating fairness for our members. We hoped to gain a better understanding of WVPA’s costs so that they could begin to be allocated fairly. Citizens Electric was disappointed when these efforts ultimately failed. As part of Citizens Electric’s fiduciary responsibility and commitment to member-owners, we are challenging rates passed down from Wabash Valley Power Alliance with their regulator, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).

Who is FERC?

FERC provides regulatory oversight to public generation and transmission utilities like WVPA. FERC has the responsibility to approve Wabash Valley’s rates and can require Wabash to change them, which is what CEC has requested FERC to do.  We believe Wabash Valley Power’s rates are inconsistent with FERC’s rules and precedent. This means FERC may require Wabash to change its rates to reflect actual costs for each of its members like other public utilities.

Employees, management, and the board of directors of Citizens Electric will continue to stay committed to the membership and ask for patience and understanding as we fight for fairness at the federal level.