We offer two calculators below to help you better understand your home’s energy use and how the Residential Demand Rate works.
Understanding Demand Billing
Understanding Demand
Demand Calculators
Energy Demand FAQs
Demand is the amount of power that is being consumed at a specific time interval. For SWECI, a demand charge is based on the single highest hour of electricity used during your billing period.
Easy Analogy
Think of electricity like water in a pipe.
Energy (kWh) = how many gallons you used this month
Demand (kW) = how wide you open the faucet at one time
Opening the faucet all the way = high demand
Opening it halfway = lower demand
No. Demand has always been part of your electric costs.
In the past, demand costs were bundled into the energy rate. Now, with improved metering technology, we can measure demand separately. This allows us to more fairly distribute costs and reward members who help lower the cooperative’s overall peak demand.
When you lower your demand, you lower the cooperative’s costs, and those savings come back to you.
No. There is no penalty for having demand. Every home that uses electricity creates demand, and members have always paid for it.
The difference now is transparency and control. By separating demand from energy charges, members can better manage when electricity is used.
Unbundled charges for demand more fairly distribute the cost of providing service to those members who use large amounts of electricity at one time.
Beginning in September 2026, members will begin paying for their individual portion of the demand created, which ultimately affects the wholesale cost of electricity. SWECI pays for electricity based on the co-op’s collective peak demand.
As your electric cooperative, we must:
• Build and maintain power lines
• Size transformers to handle peak loads
• Purchase enough electricity to meet the highest system demand
Even if peak usage only lasts a short time, the system must be built to handle it.
Demand is like building a highway for rush hour traffic. Most of the time only a few lanes are needed, but the road must be wide enough to handle the 5:00 PM rush. In the same way, SWECI has to plan for peak electricity use, even if it only happens for a short time.
Managing demand helps:
• Keep costs lower for all members
• Reduce strain on the electric system
• Avoid expensive system upgrades
• Lower transmission and capacity costs
When you reduce your peak usage, you help reduce overall expenses and we can pass those savings along to you.
Members can see their peak demand both on their bill and through the online account portal. The portal features detailed information about demand set for each meter and can be useful in identifying ways to reduce overall demand.
Every household creates demand. Reducing it is often a matter of timing.
The easiest way to lower demand is to spread out the use of major appliances throughout the day.
Instead of running everything at once, stagger usage when possible.
Tips to Reduce Demand:
• Spread out major appliance use. Don’t run your heating and cooling system, water heater, dryer and dishwasher at the same time.
• Use delay-start features. Program dishwashers and washing machines to run during off-peak evening or overnight hours.
• Charge EVs strategically. Set your electric vehicle to charge overnight when other household electricity use is minimal.
• Monitor weather extremes. On very hot or cold days when your HVAC system works hardest, postpone running other major appliances until heating or cooling demand decreases.
• Think about timing. Consider which tasks need to happen immediately and which can wait a few hours.
Example: Imagine your home has:
• Air conditioner
• Dishwasher
• Washing machine
• Microwave
If you run all of them at the same time, your electric demand goes way up. But if you used them at different times, your demand stays lower, even if your total monthly usage is the same.
Very little. Lighting typically makes up less than 15% of the average household electric bill. Using LED bulbs and turning off lights when not needed helps save energy, but lighting does not usually create large demand spikes.
Here’s a simple illustration:
• One 100-watt bulb running for 10 hours uses 1 kilowatt-hour (kWh).
• Ten 100-watt bulbs running for 1 hour also use 1 kWh.
Both use the same total energy. However, the second example requires ten times the power at one moment, meaning higher demand.
Now imagine that effect with large appliances like:
• Heating and cooling systems
• Electric ovens
• Clothes dryers
• Water heaters
Running these at the same time requires significantly more system resources than staggering their use.
Changes to Prepaid Rates
As a result of our recent cost-of-service study, rates have been updated to better align each member's bill with the actual cost of providing electric service. On average, members will see an overall increase of approximately 10%, although the exact impact will vary depending on each member's energy use and demand.
As part of this adjustment, the Service Availability Charge has also increased. This charge covers the cost of maintaining the electric system and providing service to your location, regardless of how much electricity you use.
- Previous daily Service Availability Charge: $1.47 per day
- New daily Service Availability Charge: $1.67 per day
This means that even if no electricity is used during the day, the daily Service Availability Charge will still apply.
How Demand Billing Works for Prepaid Accounts
If you are enrolled in a prepaid account, your demand charge is updated throughout your billing cycle based on your highest 1-hour demand recorded so far during the month.
Each day, your account is evaluated using the highest demand recorded up to that point in the billing cycle.
- If your highest demand does not increase, no additional demand charges are applied that day.
- If a new, higher demand is recorded, the difference between the previous peak demand and the new peak demand is added to each previous day in the current billing cycle. This creates a small true-up adjustment to ensure your prepaid account accurately reflects your highest monthly demand.
Example
Suppose your billing cycle begins on the 1st of the month:
- Day 1: Your highest 1-hour demand is 6.0 kW. Your account is charged based on a peak demand of 6.0 kW.
- Day 2: Your highest 1-hour demand is 5.0 kW. Since this is lower than your previous peak demand of 6.0 kW, nothing changes. Your monthly peak demand remains 6.0 kW.
- Day 3: Your highest 1-hour demand is 6.5 kW. Because this is your new monthly peak demand, the additional 0.5 kW is added to Days 1 and 2. Each of those days receives a 0.5 kW adjustment, resulting in a small true-up to your prepaid balance. Day 3 is then charged using the new peak demand of 6.5 kW.
This process continues throughout your billing cycle. If you set a new monthly peak demand later in the month, the difference between the old peak and the new peak is added to each previous day in the current billing cycle. If you never exceed your current peak demand, no additional demand adjustments are made.
Managing your highest 1-hour demand throughout the month can help reduce your overall electric costs.
Southwestern Electric Cooperative recently completed a cost-of-service study to ensure each member pays a rate that more closely reflects the actual cost of providing electric service. As a result of this study, rates have been updated across all rate classes.
On average, members can expect an overall bill increase of approximately 10%. The exact impact will vary depending on your rate class, energy use, and demand.
It's important to understand that demand is not a new cost. The cost of serving members' demand has always been included in the cooperative's rates.
Following the cost-of-service study, those costs have now been separated into a dedicated Demand Charge rather than being built into other portions of the bill. Because of this change, some line items on your bill have increased while others have decreased. The specific adjustments vary by rate class.