What Is The Fuel Charge On My Electric Bill

It’s not uncommon for individuals to be confused about why their electric bills seem to be rising unexpectedly each month. One particular fee that people seem to have questions about is the Fuel Charge that appears on their electric bills. It can be confusing to understand what this fee is and why it is applied. In this blog post, we will be exploring the fuel charge on electric bills and helping to clarify what it is and why it is included. We will explore the components that make up the fuel charge, what it covers, and how it affects your electric bills. By the end of this blog post, you should have a better understanding of the fuel charge and how it fits in with your energy use.

In order to help you better understand what is included in your electric service, your bill separates the fuel and non-fuel charges. The price of fuel needed to produce one kilowatt-hour (kWh) of electricity is known as a fuel charge. The costs associated with producing and delivering electricity to your home or place of business that do not directly relate to fuel, such as those associated with maintaining facilities and operating equipment

Understanding How To Read Your New Mexico Residential El Paso Electric Bill

The terms you’ll typically see on your electric bill are listed below, along with an explanation of what each one refers to.

Customer Charge: A fixed charge based on customer services including meter maintenance and reading costs, billing, record management and customer service costs.

Energy Charge: The energy charge associated with producing and delivering electricity to you based on kWh used during the Billing Period.

• Standard 1st Tier: Your energy use will be billed at a first level rate of up to 600 kWh. The two billing seasons for EPE—summer (June through September) and winter (October through May)—have an impact on the rate.
• The remainder: Only in the Summer, all energy consumption above 600 kWh is charged at a higher rate than the first tier. In order to promote energy conservation and keep your bill manageable, tier rates are in place.

Federal Tax Credit: A credit associated with the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.

Fuel and Purchased Power Cost Adjustment: The cost of fuel used to generate the electricity EPE provides you and electric power purchases from other utilities. The charge changes each month and customers are only required to pay what EPE pays for fuel, it is a direct pass-through cost.

Renewable Portfolio Standard Recovery: The state of New Mexico’s Renewable Energy Act requires that 20% of EPE’s energy to serve its New Mexico customer be from renewable energy sources. This charge covers the costs to comply with the New Mexico Renewable Portfolio Standard.

Efficient Use of Energy Recovery Factor: The cost of energy efficiency programs available to residential customers.

Merger Rate Credit: A credit to customers related to the acquisition of EPE by the Infrastructure Investments Fund (IIF).

Franchise Fee: The fee assessed by a governmental entity for the right of providing utility service within the governmental entity’s boundaries (i.e., City of Las Cruces).

Taxes: The tax assessed by a governmental entity for utility service where the service address is located and is a pass-through cost.

Understanding How To Read Your Texas Residential El Paso Electric Bill

The terms you’ll typically see on your electric bill are listed below, along with an explanation of what each one refers to. A link to a sample bill with line-by-line instructions on how to read it can be found below those terms. The example bill used here is based on a residential customer bill from Texas.

Customer Charge: A fixed charge based on customer services including meter maintenance and reading costs, billing, record management and customer service costs.

Energy Charge: The energy charge associated with producing and delivering electricity to you based on kWh used during the Billing Period.

• Standard 1st Tier: Your energy use will be billed at a first level rate of up to 600 kWh. The two billing seasons for EPE—summer (May through October) and winter (November through April)—have an impact on the rate.
• The remainder: Only in the Summer, all energy consumption above 600 kWh is charged at a higher rate than the first tier.

Fuel Charge: The cost of fuel used to generate the electricity El Paso Electric (EPE) provides you. The fuel charge is a direct pass-through to recover these costs.

Fuel Refund/Surcharge: An adjustment, for over collecting or under collecting for fuel, is made to ensure customers only pay what EPE was charged. These line items only occur if the price for fuel significantly changes resulting in the Fuel Charge either under collecting or over collecting from the actual price EPE paid for fuel.

Energy Efficiency Recovery Factor: The cost of energy efficiency programs available to customers.

Military Base Discount Recovery Factor: Texas electric utilities are required under the Public Utilities Regulatory Act to provide a discount to Texas military bases, such as Fort Bliss.

Merger Rate Credit: A credit to customers related to the acquisition of EPE by the Infrastructure Investments Fund (IIF).

EADIT Credit: The Stipulation provides for Excess Accumulated Deferred Income Taxes (EADIT) in a total amount of $24,091,867 to be returned to Texas customers over a four-year period.

Project No. 50664 Asset Surcharge: The Project 50664 Asset Surcharge allows EPE to recover deferred COVID-19 costs through a separate surcharge as approved by the PUC in Project No. 50664.

Retiring Plant Rider: The Retiring Plant Rider allows EPE to recover costs associated with three of EPEs generating units, Rio Grande Unit 7, and Newman Units 1 and 2 (collectively called the Retiring Plants).

Fuel charges in Electricity bill | Extreme Engineering

FAQ

What does fuel charge mean?

The Fuel Charge is the amount of fuel needed to produce and deliver one kilowatt-hour of electricity, including the cost of fuel for energy bought from independent power producers.

Why is there a fuel charge on my FPL bill?

The cost of fuel needed to produce each kilowatt-hour (kWh) of electricity is included in the fuel charge*. Base energy charge: the expenses associated with producing and delivering electricity other than fuel, such as the cost of running power plants and maintaining the grid.

Why does Entergy charge a fuel charge?

The fee is the cost of producing these kilowatt hours without using fuel (i e. cost of generating plants and power lines). The fuel charge, in the end, is just a way to pass through the cost of any power that was purchased as well as the fuel required to produce the required energy output. There is no markup on fuel.

What costs the most on your electric bill?

1. Heating and cooling: 45–50% Your heating and cooling appliance uses the most electricity in the typical household.
2. Water heater: 12% …
3. Lighting: 9-12% …
4. Refrigerator: 8% …
5. Washer and dryer: 5% …
6. Electric oven: 3% …
7. Dishwasher: 2% …
8. TV and cable box: 2%

Reference:

https://www.puc.texas.gov/consumer/facts/factsheets/elecfacts/fuelcharge.pdf

https://www.entergy-louisiana.com/faq/faq_business/