On February 13, Winter Storm Uri moved across Texas. It brought freezing temperatures that impacted every county in Texas. It challenged Texas’ electrical grids, and it impacted every single type of generation available on the market.
Medina Electric Cooperative knows that every time you reach for a light switch, you expect the lights to come on. It is what you want, and it is what we want. That was challenged during this event by grid-mandated outages, which compounded some weather-related outages. Many of our members were left in the dark, as were our employees. Some of our service representatives were fielding calls from their cars, trying to assist members during a very stressful time.
In the days after this stressful event, stories filled the news about bills so high they were wiping out entire savings accounts. Unlike other utilities, Medina EC is a member-owned cooperative that exists only to serve its members, not to make a profit. In fact, revenues earned beyond the cost of operating the cooperative are returned to members in the form of capital credits. That’s one reason that the rate you pay for power remained stable for your February and March bill. Most importantly, Medina EC does not anticipate any significant increase to the overall cost of the electricity we provide.
Your electric bills are tied directly to the amount of electricity you use—usage that may have increased at your home or business as your heater worked overtime during February’s bitterly cold weather. We never charge members for electricity when their power is off.
Electric cooperatives have a long history of working with Texas’ leaders to ensure your electricity remains safe and reliable. We don’t yet know all the impacts of February’s extreme weather, but we remain focused on developments at the Legislature as we work with our statewide association, Texas Electric Cooperatives, to protect our members and employees from any potential effects. Throughout this assessment and learning process, we pledge to keep our members informed every step of the way.
Medina EC’s members are our friends, neighbors and family members. We aren’t just keeping electricity flowing to homes and business—we’re powering our community. That’s why we are deeply committed to providing safe and reliable energy solutions to our members at a fair price—a commitment that has guided our business for more than 80 years.
