How many of us remember dropping into Magic Valley Electric Cooperative’s (MVEC) office with our parents and grandparents to pay the light bill? Whether you do that in person, by mail or online today, paying your monthly bill does a lot more than just keep the lights on.
Electricity keeps us connected to our modern world. Consider all the necessities and conveniences we enjoy in part because of the power lines running to the electric meters outside our homes. Count up your TVs, computers, gaming consoles and smart devices. Whether they get used every day or just occasionally, the electricity that keeps them working comes from MVEC.
Have you looked around your kitchen lately? Between the coffee maker, toaster, microwave, and electric skillet, a lot of us have added several kinds of small appliances. If you’ve got a craft nook or workshop, the power tools and machines you use to cut and shape your projects are either plugged in or recharged from the outlets connecting your household wiring to MVEC. You use co-op power to run all these devices, and we still keep the lights on. The good news is, even as we rely more on electricity, it’s still a bargain, especially compared to other things we pay for regularly.
Costs for medical care, residential rental rates and education have increased at substantial rates. The same is true for groceries, clothing, gas and many other items. Even though the cost of a kilowatt-hour has risen, at the average rate of about 1% since 2015—half the rate of medical, rent and education costs—co-ops across the country have reported a decline in average residential use per household since 2010. That means we’re doing more things with less energy. When it comes to value, electricity is a clear winner, and we’re always looking for ways to work with you to make it even better. That’s why MVEC urges energy efficiency, encourages you to look for Energy Star-rated appliances and promotes technology designed to give members more control over their electricity use.
Energy performance dashboards, smart thermostats, power strips, and appliance settings that shift most water heating, laundry and dishwashing outside of peak rate periods help reduce the co-op’s overall power demand. They also give you opportunities to control or even trim your monthly utility bills, which is good for anyone trying to live within their budget. And it’s going to become even more important as digital devices and internet-connected technologies become even more prevalent in our lives. Technology and the gateways that keep it working use electricity, so you’ll depend upon MVEC for more than the power that keeps the lights on.
That’s why we’re always working to provide service that’s reliable, keep costs as low as possible, and make it even more valuable to you, your family and your neighbors.
