All co-ops adhere to the 7 cooperative principles, including "Concern for Community." Operation Round Up is the perfect embodiment of this. The idea and process are both simple. Monthly electric bills are rounded to the next dollar, and the extra change is used by nonprofit organizations to do good work in our communities.
For example, if a member's bill is $185.43, the bill is rounded up to $186. The extra 57 cents goes to help local non-profit entities via the Wood County Electric Charitable Foundation. The average cooperative member will only donate about $6 a year. The maximum amount a member can contribute from an account annually is $11.88.
Each donation is small, but when added with donations from across the cooperative's membership, the impact to our communities is significant.
This is a voluntary program. Upon joining, a member's first account is automatically opted in. Any member may add additional accounts, or opt out of the program completely. To make any changes, just call us at (903) 763-2203.
If you are a member of a qualified organization that is seeking grant money for a project, visit our website to access the ORU page where an official application can be found. The foundation’s board members meet twice a year to consider grant requests. Send your request any time, and they’ll review it at their next meeting.
To enrich our communities and the members we serve, WCEC offers beneficial programs such as youth leadership camps and educational youth and adult scholarships for college and trade certificates programs.
ETREYS
Along with eight other electric coops, WCEC annually hosts the East Texas Rural Electric Youth Seminar (ETREYS). It’s an all-expenses paid trip for sophomores and juniors who attend high school in the WCEC service area.
Youth Tour
WCEC annually sends one delegate on this trip of a lifetime. More than 100 high school students travel to Austin, Texas, and then Washington, D.C., to meet with more than 1,700 fellow delegates from other states. It’s a jam-packed trip that includes many of our nation’s important landmarks and museums.
High School Scholarships
Open to graduating high school seniors, applications are available each spring and are provided for college and trade studies.
Adult Member Scholarships
Open to adult cooperative members, applications are available each fall and are for any type of continuing college education.
Sponsorships
WCEC also supports local charitable endeavors and offers various informational and safety programs geared toward our local schools and service organizations.
Applications, terms, availability and official rules for the above can all be found at WCEC.org in Programs and Sponsorships.
Wood County Electric Cooperative complies with applicable Federal civil rights laws and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, or sex. Your Cooperative provides electric service without discrimination as to a member’s race, nationality, age, color, religion, sex, marital status or handicap.
A member's trust is our most important asset. To preserve that, we want you to understand our privacy policy that applies to members. We collect personal information about you from the following sources:
Applications and forms you submit to us.
Your transactions with us.
Consumer reporting agencies.
We disclose some personal information to trusted service providers and governmental entities. Through contracts with these third-party service providers, we restrict the manner in which they may use personal information. For example, electric bills are mailed by a third-party vendor. We are also required by law to notify counties with the names and addresses of new electric service connections. We may disclose information about you to other governmental entities, such as reporting capital credit retirements to the IRS or by complying with subpoenas. We do not sell member information to third parties.
We restrict our employees' access to personal information about you to those individuals who need to know certain information to conduct business with you. In addition, we maintain physical, electronic and procedural safeguards to protect the confidentiality and security of our members' personal information.
If you cease to be our member (for example, you no longer receive electric service from us), our information protection practices will continue to apply to the extent that we retain information about you that was collected while you were a member.
At any time, if you believe that personal information about you within our control has been accessed by unauthorized persons, please call us immediately at (903) 763-2203 or email WCEC.
Digging into underground electric lines, cables, or water and gas pipelines can cause costly and catastrophic loss of vital services and serious injury or death. Why risk it? Know what’s below so you can take proper precautions.
And it’s simple to do! Before beginning any digging project, just call the federally-appointed phone number: 811. All lines will be marked by the utilities within a few days, and you can then safely and carefully dig around them.
Power Lines Are Energized
Treat all power lines as energized, including downed lines. Call us if you discover a downed line. If there’s an accident where a power line is contacting a vehicle, stay clear and don’t attempt rescue. If people are inside, instruct them to stay in the vehicle. Contact the nearest police department. If there is danger of fire, instruct the occupants to jump clear of the vehicle, being sure not to touch the vehicle and the ground at the same time.
Proper Wiring
Wiring should be installed and serviced to National Electrical Code standards by a qualified electrician. Every home should have at least 100-amp service and 200-amp service for electrically heated homes. For mobile and manufactured homes, service equipment must be located in sight of, and not more than 30 feet, from the exterior wall of the serviced home.
Water & Electricity
Never operate any electrical appliance or tool while standing in or touching water. Never use any electrical appliance while in a bathtub or near a water-filled sink.
Look Up!
Always know what’s above you when planning work. Antennas, metal ladders, grain augers and irrigation pipes are all excellent conductors of electricity and pose a significant danger if raised near power lines.
Lower extendable metal arms and booms on farm and construction machinery before transporting them on public roads to ensure you stay clear of power lines.
Generator Safety
Only operate a generator outdoors and never connect it directly to household wiring. The only safe way to directly connect a generator is through a double-pole, double-throw transfer switch, which must be installed by a qualified electrician and approved by WCEC.
The transfer switch closes the path of electricity between our lines and your main electrical panel. Opening the main breaker to isolate household wiring from co-op wiring is neither legal nor safe. It can send electrical energy from the house through the utility wires, creating severe risk of electrocution for electrical crews.
Also, if the utility wires are re-energized while a generator is connected via house wiring, the generator could explode and catch fire.
Power Outage Safety Kit
Everyone should have an emergency outage kit. Some basics to include:
Battery operated/hand-crank radio and lanterns/flashlights.
Auto-on emergency power failure night- lights.
Extra batteries.
Non-cordless or cell phone. Portable phones don’t function without electricity.
Manual can opener.
Frozen containers of drinkable water. For lengthy outages, ice blocks help the temperature stay cold. Melted, they can be used as drinking water.
A grill or propane camping stove for outdoor cooking.
Means to stay warm like fireplaces and extra blankets.
Members’ monthly charges as provided under the applicable Schedule shall be increased or decreased based on a Power Cost Recovery Factor (PCRF) (expressed in $ per kWh) computed monthly as follows:
PCRF = (A - B ± C) ÷ kWhs
A = Total est. cost of power from all suppliers. B = “Base Power Cost” is WCEC’s total est. cost of power included in the Cooperative’s Rates. The Base Power Cost is computed as: B = (D) (kWhs) D = $0.03972 C = Adjustment to be applied to the current monthly billing to account for differences in actual cost of power and actual PCRF revenues recovered in previous periods. kWhs = Total estimated energy sales for billing period.
What is the Power Cost Recovery Factor
As a nonprofit distribution cooperative, WCEC buys wholesale power from other entities to distribute to members as they use it. WCEC doesn’t mark up the cost of this power or make any profit from it. As power costs fluctuate in the market, the PCRF allows WCEC to pass the cost fluctuations to members. This is not a rate change on the price of electricity, but members pay more per kWh with an increased PCRF and less per kWh when it is lowered.
To secure the best power prices, WCEC is a member of two generation and transmission cooperatives, Northeast Texas Electric Cooperative and East Texas Electric Cooperative, formed to allow distribution cooperatives to plan power supply in larger quantities and take advantage of economies of scale.
In the event Electric Service is rendered within the incorporated limits of a municipality which imposes a gross receipts tax upon the revenues received by WCEC from its Members, the Cooperative shall calculate an applicable tax adjustment that will be separately stated on the bill.
The base rates listed are adjusted upward or downward monthly, depending on changes in WCEC’s cost of wholesale power which is called the Power Cost Recovery Factor. The PCRF is identified on each bill. Additional charges and terms as provided in the “General Provisions” section of the Schedules shall apply to this Schedule and will determine the entire Rate for Electric Service.
Rate Schedule
Rate A
Single-phase, 60 cycle, at standard secondary voltage.
Monthly Charge: $17 Energy Charge, per kilowatt hour (kWh): $0.06667 Minimum Bill: $17
Rate GS
3-phase at available secondary voltage. Motors having a rated capacity in excess of 10 HP must be 3-phase.
Monthly Charge: $35 Energy Charge, per kWh:
First 1500 kWh - $0.0671
Over 1500 kWh - $0.0592
Demand Charge:
First 10 KW - No Charge
Greater than 10 KW - $5.50
Rate LP
Single or 3-phase, 60 cycle, at standard or accepted delivery voltages.
Monthly Charge: $140 Demand Charge:
Per billing kWh $7
Energy Charge:
Per kWh $0.03858
Minimum Monthly Charge shall be the greater of the following:
A charge of $1.15 per KVA of installed transformer capacity
The Base Charge plus the Demand Charge
Rate OL
Outdoor lighting utilizing an outdoor type lamp offered by the Cooperative and other necessary equipment. The Cooperative shall furnish and own all lamps and equipment used to provide the Outdoor Lighting.
Monthly Charges Unmetered per Lamp:
Standard LED arm lamp: $8
Power Flood LED lamp: $13.30
Large LED arm lamp: $13.30
Monthly Charges Metered per Lamp:
175 Watt MV lamp (*): $3
100 Watt HPS lamp (*): $3
Standard LED lamp(*): $6.80
400 Watt MV lamp (*): $7.54
250 Watt HPS lamp (*): $7.54
Power Flood LED lamp: $10
Large LED arm lamp: $10
OL Transformer Monthly Charges: $8 OL Pole Monthly Charge (**): $0.75 Pole Installation Charge: $150
2 pole max, non-refundable
PCRF for Unmetered Lamps per billing:
175 Watt MV lamp (*): 75 kWh
100 Watt HPS lamp (*): 42 kWh
Standard LED arm lamp: 18 kWh
400 Watt MV lamp (*): 172 kWh
250 Watt HPS (*): 105 kWh
Power Flood LED lamp: 32 kWh
Large LED arm lamp: 54 kWh
(*) No longer available for new installation. (**) Installed specifically for lighting.
Monthly Charge: $17 Energy Charge, per kWh: $0.06667 Minimum Bill: $17
Rate HLF
3-phase, 60 cycle, at standard or accepted delivery voltages, available by contract.
Monthly Charge: $150 Demand Charge, per billing kWh: $6 Energy Charge per kWh: $0.02975 Minimum Monthly Charge:
The greater of $1.15 per KVA of installed transformer capacity.
The Demand Charge.
The minimum monthly charge specified in the contract.
Availability
Members for all types of uses at any point on or near the Cooperative’s three-phase lines, where the monthly peak demand exceeds 2,000 kW and the minimum monthly load factor is 70%. The monthly load factor shall be determined by dividing the Member’s average demand by the Member’s metered demand. If the Member’s load characteristics for the current billing period fail to meet the minimum kWh and load factor requirements, then the Member shall be billed under the Cooperative’s Large Power Service Schedule for that billing period.
Service hereunder is subject to the Cooperative’s Member Policies, and is not for resale, breakdown, standby, auxiliary or supplemental Service. Service hereunder is also subject to the execution of a written contract for Electric Service between the Member and the Cooperative.
All co-ops adhere to the 7 cooperative principles, including "Concern for Community." Operation Round Up is the perfect embodiment of this. The idea and process are both simple. Monthly electric bills are rounded to the next dollar, and the extra change is used by nonprofit organizations to do good work in our communities.
Digging into underground electric lines, cables, or water and gas pipelines can cause costly and catastrophic loss of vital services and serious injury or death. Why risk it? Know what’s below so you can take proper precautions.