IID Electric Rates Rise As Summer Heat

Imperial Irrigation District has approved a change to the Energy Cost Adjustment (ECA) factor in an effort to protect its customers from the currently changing energy and natural gas markets.

California’s power supply and the fuel used to produce energy have been limited this summer, hampering IID’s ability to import energy, resulting in substantially higher costs to the district during summer months. These fluctuating costs are reflected in IID’s ECA, which is intended to recover the costs of purchased power and the fuel the district uses to generate electricity.

The ECA is calculated monthly, both increasing and decreasing from time to time, to account for the fluctuations in market prices, lately, resulting in a higher monthly ECA rate.

“To stabilize the ECA factor, the board has taken action, over the next several months, to stretch out the recovery of these excess costs,” said Belen Valenzuela, Chief Finance Officer.

Had the board not taken this action, customers could have seen the ECA rise considerably during these high usage months. “While we have prepared all summer to meet customer needs, this is a temporary adjustment,” Valenzuela said.

The latest adjustment in the ECA is a direct result of preparations the district took months ago to bring enough energy resources online to reduce the likelihood of service interruptions.

For the average customer (with an August 2021 consumption of 2,100 kilowatt hours) the average monthly cost of the ECA, at this time, could be between $43 and $50.

Since 2015, however, IID’s ECA has been a credit to customers, or close to zero per kWh.

“Acting out of an abundance of caution and in the best interest of IID customers,” added General Manager Henry Martinez, “the IID Board and staff are working to get us through this difficult time and their attention and efforts are widely appreciated.”

As a not-for-profit public utility, IID continues to provide reliable electricity to all of its customers at some of the lowest rates in California.

For information on IID’s payment assistance programs please visit https://www.iid.com/customer-service/payment-assistance  or contact IID’s Customer Service Center toll free at 1-800-303-7756 or 1-760-335-3640.

 

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