Golden Valley Electric Association (GVEA)’s Fuel and Purchased Power rate, which is updated quarterly, will increase by just over 1¢ on June 1. This increase will be in effect through August 31, at which time the rate will be reevaluated in compliance with GVEA’s tariff. Residential members will see their monthly electric bill go up by an estimated $6.40, based on the average usage of 600 kilowatt-hours (kWh) a month.
The Fuel and Purchased Power rate is a straight pass-through. GVEA’s members are only charged the actual cost to generate and purchase power, there is no mark-up, it is one of four charges that make up a residential electric bill. Two of the other main charges have been unchanged for the past couple of years.
The 4 charges on a GVEA residential bill are:
- Customer Charge of $22.50 – Unchanged since 2018.
- Utility Charge of 12.697¢ per kWh – Unchanged since 2020.
- Regulatory Charge of .1016¢ per kWh – set by the Regulatory Commission of Alaska.
- Fuel & Purchased Power Rate of 14.036¢ – Adjusted quarterly on Dec. 1, March 1, June 1 and Sept. 1.
The Fuel and Purchased Power charge is an estimate of what GVEA anticipates will be its costs over the next 3 months to generate and purchase the energy necessary to meet the electrical needs of its members and a true up of any over-collected or under-collected amounts from the prior quarter.
This increase is attributed to rising fuel prices. Additionally, GVEA generated and purchased electricity from higher cost resources due to outages at plants that GVEA expected to be available.
GVEA recognizes the impact of electricity costs, we are diligent in our efforts to keep rates as low as possible.