The hot days of August

When August rolls around, the spring gardening bug gives way to the sweltering heat in Alabama, and our gardens start to play out until cooler times arrive.

Sadly for my grandsons, school will be starting back. The upside to that is football will be coming soon. We actually referred to those practices as 2-a-days with only one water break — that’s one water break per practice. Football in August is a young person’s game.

September can be as hot as August, but hopefully cooler times will be arriving soon.

I would like to discuss electric bills — not only for summer months but all year. Electric bills are driven by weather. After reading that comment, I bet you are thinking, “Duh! Who is this guy?” Let me explain.

Managing your electric bill is not like it was 20 years ago. We had no devices back then. All of our equipment is linked to give you information either through our website or mobile app. We even have the tools in-house to help you track your daily use and calculate the average daily use on your bill. This is on all your accounts, not just one. This tool gives you ownership of the decisions you make regarding electricity use.

Remember the garden statement at the beginning of this column? Say you plant this huge garden and have a bountiful harvest, so you and your wife go out and buy two large chest freezers for the garage. If you survive planting this huge garden with your wife, you will be able to enjoy the harvest later, but you will also use more electricity. With SAEC’s digital tools, you can track your electric use increase from the additional appliances.

Likewise, if you come in from the garden hot and sweaty and adjust your thermostat to cool off, our tools will show you how that action affects your power use and your bill.

Too many times members tell our member service representatives, “There is no way that I use that much electricity.” I like to call that “electricity sticker shock.” Our electricity is metered by an electronic device that shows the energy use by the member. The meter equipment failure rate is very low. Now, there are some other issues that can occur on the member side of the meter, but that’s not my focus today.

Sometimes high electric bill complaints are aired on Facebook, stating the electric company keeps increasing our electric rates, and people will jump on that bandwagon. We do not have a lot of that from our members. I cannot speak for other utilities, but at your cooperative, the last rate adjustment was in 2015. In 2026, SAEC changed its power cost adjustment by $5 per 1,000 kilowatt-hours. The average member uses approximately 1,200 kWh per month. On the average member’s bill, this change is $6 per month, so that’s not going to be the cause of your high utility bill.

Have you ever heard someone say, “I’m just not a numbers person?” It is a totally misleading statement. We all do numbers in some form. If you don’t do numbers, you will not function in this world. That’s why they teach math in school. But please do not let the numbers fear stop you. Our team members will walk you through the numbers process.

How has your cooperative provided its members stable rates over the past 11 years? It is through what I call organic growth. That means our base membership — both residential and large commercial accounts — is using more electricity. Growth in our overall membership helps, too. Now, we have all experienced high cost increases over the past five to six years, but not in your cooperative’s electricity rates.

I would like to tip my hat to the board of trustees for South Alabama for their insights into our budgeting process and allowing the cooperative management team to control the costs that make up your rates each year.

My commitment to you is always to seek out ways to improve our reliability and control costs so electricity rates can remain stable. Overall, we need to do those functions in a very safe manner for our employees and our members. Please contact our member service representatives on how you can monitor your electric usage and avoid the electric sticker shock.

Until next month, stay cool.