New rates and fees for SC electric customers. Will your Myrtle Beach energy bills go up?

Santee Cooper residential customers’ electric bills could increase by an average of $11 a month under new rate structures, according to the public power utility. The new structures were approved in December after months of public input and mark the first change in Santee Cooper rates since 2017.

The new pricing models, set to go into effect on April 1, will introduce peak hours, which most residential customers’ plans don’t currently include.

““Inflation has gone up … and we haven’t raised rates since 2017, so we have to be able to cover our own expenses, which includes wires and poles and all of those things that bring power to homes,” said Santee Cooper public relations specialist Tracy Vreeland.

While a peak demand charge could raise customers’ bills, electricity rates will actually decrease most of the day, so customers who plan their energy use could potentially lower their energy costs.

“When you’re using power the rest of the day, it’s going to be cheaper than what it is now,” Vreeland said.

Rate changes

The approved rate changes will impact all residential customers. For customers on the residential general service schedule, which Vreeland says includes most users, the company will introduce a 3-hour window each day of peak hours.

From April to October, peak hours will be 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. In November through March, the peak window will shift to 6 a.m. to 9 a.m.

Limiting, delaying and staggering the use of energy-intensive appliances like water heaters and clothes dryers during peak hours can help keep costs down.

“As an electric industry, we have not done a very good job of telling people that it costs us more to make energy during peak times because we have to fire up more units, and every time we fire up more units, it costs us more,” Vreeland said. “So it’s kind of becoming more of an industry standard, where we’re passing those extra costs on to our customers.”

General service schedule

Customers on the current residential general service schedule pay uniform rates per kilowatt hour (kWh), which measure how much power a member uses over a period of time. Santee Cooper charges customers $0.1197 per kWh in the summer and $0.0997 per kWh in the winter.

But starting April 1, the residential general rate structure will introduce a 3-hour window each day of peak hours. From April to October, peak hours will be 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. In November through March, the peak window will shift to 6 a.m. to 9 a.m.

Within that peak window, the single hour in which a customer uses the most electricity each month will be charged $8 per kilowatt, which measures the rate at which electricity is used.

The rest of the month, including hours in the peak window that aren’t the single highest-usage, members will be charged a lower rate of $0.0792 per kWh. Unlike the current general residential rate, that kWh charge won’t change based on the season.

“We just ask you to be careful during those 3 hours, because, especially with all the people moving in, that peak’s going to get higher and higher,” said Vreeland, “and the higher it gets the more generation we have to build, which is also very expensive.”

Time-of-use schedule

Customers on the residential time-of-use schedule, who already pay based on a peak-window structure, the rates will also change.

The new structure eliminates different on-peak rates for the summer and winter season in favor of a standard $0.338 per kWh during the peak window. In the off-peak hours, the rate will increase from $0.0613 per kWh to $0.0792 per kWh.

Fee changes

The flat-rate customer charge residential users pay will also change to $20 a month in April, regardless of the customer’s rate schedule.

For customers on the residential general rate schedule, the monthly fee will increase slightly from $19.50. The minority of customers on the residential time-of-use schedule, will see their customer charge drop $8 from $28 per month.