After painful inflationary price increases at the gas pump, the grocery store, and on essentially every product and service over the past couple of years, members of Mecklenburg Electric Cooperative will experience a reprieve on their electric bills when the local cooperative lowers its rates, yet again. A new rate decrease will become effective on July 1 and is the second reduction for its members in the past year.

Since January, the cooperative has lowered its residential rates for members using 1,000 kWh per month by $3.51, providing a yearly savings of $42.12.

“We are pleased to announce another decrease in our members’ energy bills,” said MEC President and CEO Casey Logan. “We recognize that soaring costs on everything has been challenging and we hope this reduction will provide some much-needed relief for our membership.”

For the most recent reduction, the Board of Directors at Old Dominion Electric Cooperative, MEC’s wholesale power provider, voted in June for a rate decrease. These lower costs are largely the result of less expensive fuel to generate electricity and lower power prices generally across the region.

“MEC is a not-for-profit cooperative owned by the members we serve, and it is our mission to provide our valued members with the most reliable power at the lowest possible cost,” said Logan. “We remain committed to that mission, and as such, it is also important to note that while MEC passes along rate decreases to the members when generation prices decrease, we also return profits to the membership through capital credit retirements. In December, MEC returned $1,118,682.37 in margins to our membership.

“That,” he concluded, “is the Cooperative Difference.”