Are you trying to access a copy of your latest CVEC electric bill?

At the beginning of April, CVEC upgraded our Customer Information System which required moving to new account numbers.  You will find this on the latest copy of your electric bill and it will have the following format:   xxxxx-xxx-01.

In order to view a copy of your bill online complete the following steps:

1. Visit www.mycvec.com
2. Select View my Bill from the top left hand column
3. Select Add an Account from the left hand column
4. Enter your name exactly as it appears on your bill
5. Enter you new account number (only use the first two groups of numbers…See the example of red X’s above.)
6. Enter the security code

You should now be able to view all copies of your electric bill.

If not, try to add the account again.

If you are signed up for paperless billing or cannot find a copy of your latest bill, contact Member Services at 800-367-2832.

Green Energy Now Available

If you are one of the members that would like to purchase “green energy” but want to avoid the costly investment of a solar or wind system, then your Co-op now has an alternative for you.  CVEC has purchased wind generated renewable energy certificates (REC’s) through the Old Dominion Electric Cooperative. (Read More)

Capital Credits:  One of the Benefits of Membership

CVEC operates under the cooperative business model, member-owned, not-for-profit, and governed by a board of directors elected by the members to represent our interests.  As such, distribution lines are constructed and maintained at actual costs.  Energy is purchased in bulk and delivered to members without a price markup that is typical of for profit utilities. At the end of the year, if there is money remaining after all of the bills are paid, each member is allocated a share of the remaining money based upon their energy usage.  (read more)

8:00 PM: The outage total in the Cunningham substation area rose above 600, but has been cleared. Crews are working on 270 outages in the Piney River area and some single outages in scattered around the rest of the distribution system.

7:00 PM: 300 members are without service in the Cunningham substation area in Fluvanna County and another 270 in the Piney River substation area in Nelson. Hope that the winds stay down with this saturated soil.

6:00 PM: Crews are working in 5 substation areas where there are outages affecting 2-3 dozen members in each area. View the outage map to track their progress.

5:00 PM: We have a few substation areas affected by the heavy rains with 148 member without power in the Martins Store substation area and 32 in the Cartersville area.

CVEC filed a rate case application with the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) on December 12, 2010. If approved that rate adjustment will provide an additional $3 million in annual revenue for the Co-op.

Why the increase now? CVEC has some of the lowest rates in Virginia due to conservative management and a very favorable power supply contract that will expire mid-2012. As CVEC is evaluating new sources of power supply, the Co-op is discovering that the wholesale energy market has changed in the past decade. In the past distributions cooperatives like CVEC typically purchased energy for its members from generation utilities.

Now there are new participants in the wholesale market. Investment banks and brokerage firms are selling energy as a commodity and they evaluate a distribution cooperative differently than generation utilities evaluate a distribution cooperative. While CVEC is financially sound, it is increasing rates to increase equity and raise other financial ratios in order to receive the most favorable terms under a new wholesale energy contract.

CVEC has filed a case with the State Corporation Commission, and plans to apply the new rates during the month of May on an interim basis while the SCC is evaluating the application. As a member, you will see the changes on your June bill. The SCC is scheduled to make a ruling on July 28, 2011.

How much will rates increase?

• An average of 5.12% if approved by the State Corporation Commission.
• By Member Rate Class
  • Residential 6.00%
  • General Service 2.81%
  • Large Commercial 1.65%
  • Industrial 1.51%
  • Street Lights 9.39%

How will residential rates change?
Distribution Fixed Charge:

• Increasing from $17.49 to $21.60
• This includes a $5 metering and billing charge as well as a basic service charge for maintaining the service connection to the member home, prior to factoring in any energy sales.

Distribution Usage Charge:

• Changing from a two step rate to one rate of 2.837¢ per kilowatt-hour (kWh)
• Up to now, CVEC has charged a little over 3¢/kWh for the first 300 kWh’s and then a little over 2.5¢ for any additional kilowatt-hours (1 kWh = 1000 watts for one hour or ten 100 watt bulbs for an hour.)
• Now there will be one rate, 2.837¢ for distribution usage (the cost to provide energy delivery to your home )

Energy Usage Charge:

• Increasing from 4.548¢ to 4.587¢ (the cost of your energy that you used as portion of the wholesale energy that CVEC purchase for all Co-op members)

How will residential rates change with varying energy usage?

* Let’s look at a sample residential bill based upon energy usage now and under the proposed new rate:

If you have additional questions please contact your Co-op at 800-367-2832.

Mecklenburg Electric Cooperative (MEC) customers will soon be using greener energy after MEC announced this week that its power supplier, Old Dominion Electric Cooperative (ODEC) and AES Wind Generation are starting a commercial operation of the Armenia Mountain wind farm in Pennsylvania. ODEC, the primary power provider for Mecklenburg Electric Cooperative and 10 other electric distribution cooperatives, will receive 50 percent of the electricity generated. AES Wind Generation developed, owns and operates the wind farm which is comprised of 67 wind turbines. The 101 megawatt (MW) wind farm is located in the Pennsylvania counties of Bradford and Tioga in the north central region of the Keystone State.

“We are pleased to be meeting a portion of our Members’ growing power needs with electricity generated from the Armenia Mountain Wind Project,” John Lee, president and CEO of Mecklenburg Electric Cooperative, said Tuesday. “Historically, the cooperatives have been at the forefront in national efforts to balance the growing electric needs of our nation with being environmentally responsible. ODEC, who is owned by 11 distribution cooperatives including Mecklenburg, has been particularly aggressive in its efforts to secure some energy from renewable generation resources, and those familiar with our Clover Project in Halifax County know that we are committed to generating electricity as cleanly as possible, regardless of the fuel source. We will continue to seek out opportunities at ODEC to secure renewable power as long as that energy comes at a cost that is reasonable and affordable to our Members and we do so because it is the right thing to do for our planet and future generations, not because it is required by regulatory or legislative mandates.”

In addition to its contract with AES Wind Power for 50 percent of the output from the Armenia Mountain Wind Farm, ODEC’s portfolio of renewable generation resources also includes 100 percent of the power generated from a landfill gas-to-energy project in Worcester County, Md., and a hydroelectric project in Bath County. ODEC has also signed a long-term agreement to purchase the 70 MW of energy projected to be produced by the Constellation Energy Criterion Wind Power Project to be built in Garrett County, Md.

Lee, along with MEC Board Member David Jones of Bracey, serve as members of the Board of Directors for Old Dominion Electric Cooperative. In July 2008, ODEC signed a 15-year power purchase agreement with AES Wind Generation for 50 percent of the output of its then planned Armenia Mountain Wind Farm project. A separate agreement for 50 percent of the energy output from the wind farm was signed by Newark, Del.- based Delmarva Power. AES Wind Generation was chosen as one of the winning bidders following a request for proposals from wind generated power providers issued in early 2008.

ODEC owns 11.6 percent of the North Anna Nuclear Power Station in Louisa County, and 50 percent of the Clover Power Station in Halifax County. The cooperative also owns and operates generation facilities in Louisa County and Fauquier County, and owns 50 percent of the Rock Springs Generation Facility in Cecil County, Md. For more information, visit www.odec.com.

Old Dominion Electric Cooperative (ODEC) and its member systems are owned by the consumer-members they serve and are not-for-profit electric cooperatives. These member systems include (in Virginia): A&N Electric Cooperative, BARC Electric Cooperative, Community Electric Cooperative, Mecklenburg Electric Cooperative, Northern Neck Electric Cooperative, Prince George Electric Cooperative, Rappahannock Electric Cooperative, Shenandoah Valley Electric Cooperative, and Southside Electric Cooperative; (in Maryland) Choptank Electric Cooperative; and (in Delaware) Delaware Electric Cooperative.

Mecklenburg Electric Cooperative, headquartered in Chase City with district offices in Emporia, Chase City and Gretna, is a not-for-profit member-owned energy provider that serves over 31,000 homes, farms and businesses throughout nine Central and Southside Virginia counties. For more information, go to www.meckelec.org.

view PDF here

For More Information Contact:
Greg Kelly, Member Services Director
434-263-7627 or 800-367-2832 ext. 1500
gkelly@forcvec.com

Five high school students from Central Virginia have each earned college scholarships awarded by the Educational Scholarship Foundation of the Virginia, Maryland & Delaware Association of Electric Cooperatives (VMDAEC).

The recipients are:

• Alicia Adams of Appomattox, a senior at Appomattox County High School and the daughter of Catherine Adams;

• Alexandra LaRosa of Palmyra, a senior at Fluvanna County High School and the daughter of Darlene and Terrence LaRosa;

• Rika Patterson of Gladstone, a senior at Nelson County High School and the daughter of Delores Patterson;

• Kaylee Wallace of Palmyra, a senior at Fluvanna County High School and the daughter of Gina Nester; and

• Christopher White of Appomattox, a senior at Appomattox County High School and the son of Kimberly White.

All of these students earned these scholarships based on a competitive screening process and were eligible because their parents are consumer-member of Central Virginia Electric Cooperative.

This year, the VMDAEC Educational Scholarship Foundation is awarding 39 $1,000 and nine $500 scholarships for a total of $43,500 – the largest dollar amount in the history of the Foundation.  Scholarships are awarded to deserving students who live in areas served by electric cooperatives in  Delaware, Maryland and Virginia and may used by the recipient for college tuition, fees and books.

The $1,000 scholarships are named in honor of Worth Hudson, the first chairman of the VMDAEC Educational Scholarship Foundation and former chairman of the board of directors of Mecklenburg Electric Cooperative in Chase City, Va. Since its inception in 2000, the Foundation has awarded 262 scholarships totaling $171,500.

Founded in 1944, VMDAEC is the trade association for Central Virginia Electric Cooperative and the 15 other electric co-ops that serve Virginia, Maryland and Delaware. It is based in Glen Allen, Va. and provides safety and employee training, governmental relations, communications and other services to its members. For more information on VMDAEC and the scholarship program, visit www.vmdaec.com.

Central Virginia Electric Cooperative, headquartered in Nelson County with division offices in Appomattox and Fluvanna Counties, is a not-for-profit member-owned energy provider that serves over 34,000 homes, farms and businesses in portions of 14 Virginia counties and the Town of Gordonsville. For more information, go to www.forcvec.com.

CVEC has received questions regarding the language cited from The Virginia State Corporation Commission Order where it said: “…the Commission allow its rates to increase by $2,314,643 or 4.63% on an annual basis…”

Some readers interpreted the language to mean that the SCC had authorized CVEC to increase rates by 4.63% this year and in years after 2009. The actual intent of the language was to convey a change in rates where the average CVEC member would see a 4.63% increase in his or her yearly bill compared to bills from previous years.

No additional rate increase will occur without a rate filing with the State Corporation Commission and notice to CVEC members.