2026 marks the 88th year of Trinity Valley Electric Cooperative and its predecessors, Kaufman County EC and New Era EC, powering the residents of our part of northeast Texas. The world has changed a lot in that time, but one thing we are proud of is our commitment to serving TVEC members with the same pioneering spirit and commitment to the values that launched the electric cooperative movement all those decades ago.
It is written into our mission statement: At Trinity Valley Electric Cooperative, we are committed to our member-owners to deliver safe and reliable electric power at a competitive price, with a strong emphasis on member service, community and sound business practices.
As we prepare to implement the second part of last year’s rate increase, I thought it would be a good time to share how rates are formulated.
As you may have noticed on your bill, our basic residential rates are quite simple. There is the fixed monthly customer charge and a per kilowatt-hour charge based on energy consumption.
Behind the numbers, however, a lot of effort has gone into making those rates as fair as possible. The philosophy is that each member’s cost should fairly reflect the cost of providing their service.
Customer Charge: This fixed charge, which will be set at $30.75 beginning with bills mailed in April, is aimed at covering most of the co-op’s operating expenses. From the trucks and infrastructure to personnel and supplies, we do our best to spend these dollars in a way that maximizes our ability to serve you well.
Energy Consumption: The current consumption rate for residential power is $0.10968 per kilowatt-hour. That amount covers the costs of purchasing wholesale power, as well as a small portion that goes to operations.
And while it is simple math, small changes in either part of the rate can make big changes in how the overall cost of power is spread among members. That means a great deal of number-crunching, endless spreadsheets of past data and future cost projections went into the new rate, which we hope will be steady for a while.
The bottom line is that with everything included, at 1,000 kWh, our rate is just over $0.14 per kWh, still well below the average Texas rate in the $0.15 range as of this writing. Find more information about TVEC’s rate structure at tvec.net/rates.
