OTEC fee hits home for some irrigators

Published 5:38 am Monday, November 17, 2014

JOHN DAY – Some area ranchers are getting an unhappy introduction to a new Oregon Trail Electric Cooperative policy that is putting a halt to temporary or seasonal meter disconnections.

Rob Stewart of Mt. Vernon was among the customers surprised by the policy when he prepared to stop service this fall for the meter that serves his irrigation pump. When he called the OTEC office, the staff gave him a heads-up him that due to the new policy, which goes into effect in January, he and other irrigators who have traditionally shut down service in the off season will face some new costs.

The tariff policy, adopted by the OTEC board to update its fees and rates, provides that all accounts will pay the standard monthly delivery charge– whether power is used or not.

If a member disconnects and reconnects during a 13-month period, OTEC will bill that customer for the accumulated delivery charges – plus a reconnect fee. The members can avoid the reconnect fee by leaving their meters on year-round.

OTEC executive director Werner Buehler wrote an op-ed piece for the Eagle to notify the public about the tariff policy, but some customers may not have realized they were impacted.

Jim Horan, OTEC spokesman, said the new tariff policy applies to all meters that are disconnected seasonally, whether it’s serving a vacant cabin or an irrigation pump.

“The costs to the Cooperative to serve the meter remains whether it is on or off,” he said.

He said OTEC has fixed costs for maintaining lines and equipment, restoring and repairing them, and providing power when a member wants it restored.

He said OTEC had a study done last year that found the cost of serving a residential or farm/irrigation meter is $33.50. The standard delivery charge is $21.56, so the remaining cost to serve the meter comes from the sale of energy.

He said utilities have been able to cover their costs in the past largely with rising energy sales, but the load growth now is flat or declining.

Horan said there are only about 200 customers that have been disconnecting and reconnecting seasonally, leaving the rest of the users to pay the cost of serving those meters.

The OTEC Board approved the change “as a more equitable way to recover those fixed costs and ensure that each member is paying their fair share,” he said.

Buehler, in his article, advised that leaving the meter on year-round is safe, even when not in use, and will allow OTEC to monitor the metered location for power-quality issues and outages.