Q: Who can be a member
of the board of directors?
A: Any member meeting the qualifications as set
by the HILCO Electric BYLAWS.
Q: What is a Credentialed Director?
A: A person becomes a credentialed director on
the first full day after all course work necessary to earn the NRECA
Credentialed Cooperative Directors Certification is completed.
Q: Is a board member compensated?
A: A board member is compensated for the time
spent serving the cooperative. This includes monthly electric board
meetings, Brazos Electric board meetings, San Miguel board meetings,
training sessions required by the HILCO ByLaws or recommended by NRECA,
special committee member meetings, or representing the cooperative at
other cooperative-related functions as deemed necessary by the board
of directors. Based on information provided by NRECA, or national
affiliate, the directors of HILCO are compensated similarly to other
board members serving cooperatives of HILCO's size.
Q: Can I choose my electric energy provider?
A: When asked on prior member surveys, HILCO has
asked the members if they wish to opt into competition. Every year the
overwhelming majority of members indicate they do not wish for their
electric cooperative to enter the deregulated market. Deregulation
just has not proven to save the average residential customer money.
When members judge their cooperative by the results it produces for
them, HILCO members have every reason to be proud of the cooperative's
board of directors, management, and employees as the members
experience competitively low rates, are able to make contributions to
the community, see solid financial strength, and have reliable
electric service. HILCO is the leading force in promoting a strong
economy in our area. Because a cooperative is owned by the local people
and the businesses it serves, rather than far-away shareholders, it is
a not-for-profit operation that returns excess revenues to its
member-customer in proportion to the size of their electric bills. Our
motive is to serve the members, not private profit.
Q: What can I do to save money?
A: Each home and family is unique. The
insulation level, how well the windows seal, whether the appliances
are energy-efficient or not play into how much energy is consumed. The
habits of the inhabitants also determine the usage. Things like how
often laundry is washed and dried, whether window shades are kept
closed, and the setting on the thermostat also contribute to the usage
level. At HILCO Electric Cooperative, we understand the rising cost of
electricity and provide information to our members on how they can
save money. Whether a member uses the energy calculator off the www.hilco.coop
website, reads the tips published each month in our Texas Co-op Power
magazine, or requests a free energy-savings guidebook to be mailed,
HILCO Electric Cooperative works to find ways to disseminate
information to our members. Additionally, thanks to the capabilities
of our TWACS metering system, we can provide members with daily meter
readings. Many members find this information useful in assisting them
with tracking when their usage increases. Another service the
cooperative provides to the members free of charge is an extensive
one-on-one home energy audit. After completing a short questionnaire,
a representative will meet the member in their home an suggest ways to
help lower their usage.
Q: How can I establish new service?
A: The phones at HILCO Electric Cooperative are
answered twenty-four hours a day. If you are building a home, simply
call the office and speak with a representative. They will set up your
service and arrange for a member of our staff to come to your location
and discuss options for your new service. If you have any problems
with your existing service, you can call the office and speak with a
representative who will send a serviceman to your location for repair.
All calls are answered by HILCO Electric Cooperative employees whose
offices are conveniently located in Itasca, Whitney, and Midlothian.
During times of high call volumes, such as during an outage, members
are also given the option to leave a voice mail message so that they
do not have to wait for the first available representative.
Q: How reliable is your service?
A: We continually work to ensure our members
have the power when they need it. Our work plans include upgrading
existing services to meet the demands of our growing cooperative, as
well as include plans to maintain clearance through tree trimming. In
2007, our average outage time per member was 1.15 hours. However, due
to storms, animals, or even vehicle accidents, we do have unavoidable
outages. When outages occur, our focus is on restoring as many members
as possible as quickly as possible. The general guideline is to start
at the substation level. By restoring service to the substation, many
members will have their service restored. The next level would be at
the feeder level, then the phase level, and finally, we work on
restoring power at the individual transformer and service level.
Priority is given to individuals who have a documented medical
necessity for electricity.
Q: What does PCRF stand for?
A: The electric utility industry possesses its
own set of acronyms, PCRF is one of those. PCRF is an acronym for
Power Cost Recovery Factor and it is something HILCO Electric
Cooperative deals with on a monthly basis. The PCRF is the rate
component, on all electric bills, that is a direct reflection of the
fluctuating cost of fuel required to run an electric generation plant.
Since HILCO is a distribution cooperative, we purchase our
wholesale power from a generation company, Brazos Electric Power
Cooperative. Brazos generates approximately 84% of its electricity
and purchases the remaining amount needed to meet its demand.
When fuel prices rise, it costs Brazos more to produce
electricity and those costs are passed through to HILCO and its
members by an increase in the PCRF. So while HILCO's rate for the
price of electricity has not changed, members will pay more with an
increased PCRF.
One way to think about PCRF is to compare it to the cost of
gasoline for your car. Even though your monthly car payment (the
rate) hasn't gone up, the car you drive is costing more to operate
now because just as fuel prices have risen, for generated
electricity, so have gasoline prices at the pump (the PCRF).
Increases in fuel prices do not just affect HILCO or Brazos -
nearly every electric utility in the nation is facing this same
issue. The demand for electric generation continues to increase. As
we all know, with demand high and supplies lower, the price is going
to rise.
To minimize the impact of this charge on our members, every
attempt is made to "level" the PCRF monthly, rather than to pass on
the sometime extreme monthly fluctuations from our wholesale
supplier. However, significant changes in fuel charges may make it
necessary to adjust the PCRF more dramatically.
The main advantage of monthly changes in the PCRF is that it is
more responsive to changes in fuel costs. If fuel costs go down our
members are not stuck with a higher cost indefinitely. Investor
owned utilities, such as TXU, can only make rate adjustments for
changes in fuel costs twice annually and must gain approval from the
Public Utility Commission of Texas to do so. This means their fuel
cost adjustments may remain higher for their customers for an
indefinite period of time and no one knows for certain when or if
fuel prices will decrease from their current levels.
Q: How is a cooperative different that an
investor-owned utility such as TXU?
A: Cooperatives are democratically controlled
with the one member/one vote principle. Additionally, cooperatives are
not-for-profit organizations. When surplus margins occur, the members
benefit by receiving patronage dividends.
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