Officials: LCEC power rates in Lehigh go down
Good news for customers in Lehigh Acres from the Lee County Electric Cooperative. Starting July 1, electric rates went down.
Officials said it is the fifth time in the last three years, thanks to a rate reduction approved two weeks ago by the LCEC’s board of trustees.
“I’m tremendously proud of the work our employees do every day to deliver on our promise of providing the lowest reasonably achievable price for reliable electric service,” said Dennie Hamilton, executive vice president of LCEC said in a news release.
“As a not-for-profit electric cooperative, LCEC is not in the business to earn a profit for shareholders, but rather to serve our members who with this reduction will pay less now for electricity than they have since 2006,” he stated.
The residential rate for 1,000 kilowatt-hours has dropped to $102.50, a drop of almost 9 percent from 2013 rate levels. Officials said this puts LCEC rates far below the average charged by the state’s municipal and investor-owned utilities – $112.42 and $123.98, respectively.
Now, only four of the 55 electric utilities in Florida have lower residential rates for electricity at that usage level, Hamilton said.
He also noted the benefits of cooperative membership go beyond low electric rates.
He said cooperative members provide funds to operate their electric utility and are allocated equity annually, a portion of which is retired and returned to members when financially feasible.
According to information provided, LCEC returned more than $10 million to active and inactive cooperative members in 2016.
“Beyond our formal electric rates, the benefits of cooperative membership can be quantified as an effective rate discount to our customers of just over seven percent,” Hamilton said. “We are laser-focused on achieving our long-range business objective of remaining one of the lowest-cost residential electric providers in Florida.”
LCEC is based out of North Fort Myers, where the cooperative first began in 1940. It has about 375 employees working throughout the five-county service area.
Officials: LCEC power rates in Lehigh go down
Good news for customers in Lehigh Acres from the Lee County Electric Cooperative. Starting July 1, electric rates went down.
Officials said it is the fifth time in the last three years, thanks to a rate reduction approved two weeks ago by the LCEC’s board of trustees.
“I’m tremendously proud of the work our employees do every day to deliver on our promise of providing the lowest reasonably achievable price for reliable electric service,” said Dennie Hamilton, executive vice president of LCEC said in a news release.
“As a not-for-profit electric cooperative, LCEC is not in the business to earn a profit for shareholders, but rather to serve our members who with this reduction will pay less now for electricity than they have since 2006,” he stated.
The residential rate for 1,000 kilowatt-hours has dropped to $102.50, a drop of almost 9 percent from 2013 rate levels. Officials said this puts LCEC rates far below the average charged by the state’s municipal and investor-owned utilities – $112.42 and $123.98, respectively.
Now, only four of the 55 electric utilities in Florida have lower residential rates for electricity at that usage level, Hamilton said.
He also noted the benefits of cooperative membership go beyond low electric rates.
He said cooperative members provide funds to operate their electric utility and are allocated equity annually, a portion of which is retired and returned to members when financially feasible.
According to information provided, LCEC returned more than $10 million to active and inactive cooperative members in 2016.
“Beyond our formal electric rates, the benefits of cooperative membership can be quantified as an effective rate discount to our customers of just over seven percent,” Hamilton said. “We are laser-focused on achieving our long-range business objective of remaining one of the lowest-cost residential electric providers in Florida.”
LCEC is based out of North Fort Myers, where the cooperative first began in 1940. It has about 375 employees working throughout the five-county service area.
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