We hope this update finds you safe and warm. The winter storm that left millions of Texans without power this past week was undoubtedly a historical weather event, wreaking havoc on Texas’ power grid operator, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, (ERCOT). As many of us have our power restored in our homes and businesses, we understand this event will bring up questions and concerns about potential spikes in energy prices.

If you’ve been an NEC Co-op Energy member for some time, you know that we value honesty and transparency with our members. While we can’t give you an exact forecast of the market’s electricity rates, here’s what we can tell you:

Many statewide retail electricity providers will face challenges over the next several weeks, at varying degrees, based on their pricing structures and how they purchase their power. These challenges range from drastic rate spikes to possible bankruptcy.

NEC Co-op Energy is in a better position than many. We contract our power with South Texas Electric Co-op (STEC), and take proactive steps to actively manage and offset high market costs, limiting the impacts of market price spikes like we experienced this week.

From the beginning of this event, we and our generation partner, STEC, took steps to attempt to limit the impacts of the market price spikes for our members. The market prices are extremely high and STEC has had to buy some of this power, but it also had the chance to sell some power at the high prices to offset some of those high costs.

What does this mean for our members? With record low temperatures and extra heating system usage, member data shows that our members are using significantly more power, in some households, double. Many members should expect to see higher electricity bills, however, we don’t expect a drastic spike in rates like other providers may be predicting for their customers.

As always, we will work with our members to assist with bill payments and support you however we can. As a co-op, we are always looking out for your best interests. Moving forward, we are committed to taking an active seat at the table to affect change and minimize impacts like this for our members in the future.

If you need immediate assistance, please contact 1-855-632-7348. View our electric bill FAQs for more information,