Howard Electric Cooperative has always billed members for the demand charge, it just wasn’t a separate line item on the bill. We have always had to recover the demand charge that our power provider bills us through the KWh charge. Now, thanks to new meter technology, we can bill each household for the demand that they are actually using. This way members have control of their demand charge and can take advantage of reducing the demand during critical peak times and save on the electric bill.

Demand is measured between 6 to 8 a.m. and 4 to 8 p.m. A household’s highest KW demand through the month during these hours will be what they see as their demand charge on the bill. To find out how demand works, please visit our Understanding Demand page.