Members Only Portal
Membership at WRVEC means more than just a right to buy electricity. We are committed to being transparent with members about our direction, practices, and operations.
Member Snapshot
The Member Snapshot is comprised of four parts: Yearly revenue, billed meters, yearly kWh sold, and active meters. Our Board of Directors and leadership team evaluate this snapshot in conjunction with our assets and investments to continually monitor the Cooperative’s financial stability.
Yearly Revenue
Revenue powers the cooperative from energy costs to system maintenance. After bills are paid, excess margins are passed back to the member via capital credits.
- 2023: $99,658,314
- 2022: $104,844,081
- 2021: $98,017,961
Yearly kWh Sold
WRVEC provides 700,000,000+ kilowatt hours (kWh) to members each year. For perspective, a 100 watt light bulb uses 1 kWh in 10 hours.
- 2023: 781,204,725 kWh
- 2022: 819,254,684 kWh
- 2021: 771,889,270 kWh
Billed Meters
Thanks to a strong and thriving community, WRVEC provides electricity to 44,000+ meters.
- 2023: 48,405 meters
- 2022: 47,294 meters
- 2021: 46,249 meters
Active Members
WRVEC first flipped the switch in 1939, bringing 505 members into the modern age of electricity. Today, the cooperative serves 35,000+ active members.
- 2023: 36,365 members
- 2022: 36,083 members
- 2021: 35,365 members
2023 Information: Reports and Financials
Capital Credits
The Cooperative pays the bills for things like power generation, maintenance and operations. The money left over after those bills are paid each year is called a margin. Margins provide equity for the Cooperative and are assigned to members through capital credits.
Financial Statistics
Long-term debt and the financial integrity of the Cooperative is evaluated through the Equity Management Plan, part of the core cooperative business model. Target equity is reached when evaluating three areas:
- Growth in Total Utility Plan (TUP) – Construction work plan
- Capital Credits – Capital Credit Policy
- Margins – Rates & Operating Budget
In addition to equity, we continually monitor regular expenditures. The expenses paid with every dollar covers purchased power, operations and maintenance, administrative and general expenses, depreciation, interest, customer service, taxes, and the operating margins that may remain for things like capital credits. Scroll over the numbers to learn more about each expense.
Purchased Power
Purchased power is the cost that WRVEC pays for the power sold to our membership. We purchase our power from KAMO Power and Sho-Me Power. Approximately 85% of our purchases are from KAMO and 15% from Sho-Me. Purchased power is the cooperatives largest expense.
Operations
Operations host a variety of different aspects that keep your cooperative operating. Labor, material, fleet, metering and system technologies are the largest portion of this expense.
Maintenance
Maintenance expenses are items such as storm restoration, right of way clearing, and routine system maintenance.
Customer Service
Customer expenses include the labor and overhead of providing quality customer service to WRVEC members. Items such as monthly billing, mailings to members, credit card fees, and computer software are included in this category.
Administration & General
Administration and General are all the internal costs of operating a business. Expenses such as paper supplies and forms, board governance and administration, external auditors, and attorneys fall within this category.
Depreciation
Depreciation is a non-cash category that allows the cooperative to spread the cost to capital improvements over their appropriate estimated useful lives.
Taxes
Taxes are the amount of money spent each year on personal and real estate property. The cooperative has over 5,000 miles of line we pay taxes on each year. We also pay personal property taxes on our entire fleet. WRVEC pays each county in which our assets are located: Taney, Stone, Douglas, Ozark and Christian.
Interest
Interest is the cost of borrowing long-term debt which is borrowed to improve and strengthen our system. This, in turn, provides current members with reliability and opportunity for new members.
RENEWABLES
DIVERSE ENERGY MIX
Associated Electric Cooperative Inc. (AECI), our local power provider, uses the lowest-cost generation resources first to serve member electric requirements. This generation portfolio includes hydropower, coal, wind and natural gas. This diversity enables the wholesale supply to adjust as needed to make sure members are served with low-cost, reliable generation regardless of changing conditions — meeting members needs 100% of the time. Click here to view more information regarding our energy mix.
4% of 2023’s power mixed was purchased energy.
solar members
White River Valley Electric Cooperative is committed to offering safe, economic energy solutions to those who wish to install solar panels on their property. We require any member who install solar panels without battery backup to connect back to the grid using a process called “net metering.” This process allows members to safety access power when panels do not have the ability to produce enough energy for the home’s needs at a given time i.e. in the evenings, cloudy days, etc. It also enables members to be credited for the surplus power they create in a given billing period. Operating within state statutes, the credit is based on the cost of wholesale power purchased during that period as the costs may fluctuate at different times causing the power to be more or less costly. This also ensures that non-solar members aren’t subsidizing the cost of power for their renewable energy-generating neighbors in months where they may not have produced as much. or any at all. The billing guidelines set by Missouri legislators for the “net metering” agreement keeps the process fair for all members.
SYSTEM RELIABILITY
determining electric rates
Rates are determined based on a variety of factors. Geography & terrain, fluctuating markets, natural disasters, and membership diversity are sometimes difficult to foresee. Safeguards like wholesale power agreements help to keep rates stable. WRVEC strives to keep rates affordable for members while still maintaining the financial integrity of the Cooperative. No cooperative is the same, but we are proud to offer rates within the competitive range of all Missouri electric cooperatives.
BLENDED RATES
(usage + demand)
SERVICE AVAILABILITY CHARGE
(monthly fee per meter)
AVG MEMBER COST
(KwH + availability fee)
To better explain your rates, we’ve included the following explanations below.
why is there a service availability fee?
The service availability charge, also known as the minimum bill , covers the expenses of maintaining the overall electric system and delivering power to your property. These cost are not associated with your electric rates, but do play a part in overall costs. Since the ability to deliver power to your home and/or business isn’t determined by the amount of power used, this is billed separately and equally throughout the membership. This fee covers the cost of available service to 100% of our members at any given time. Without this fee, WRVEC could not ensure its members’ safe delivery of power nor its electric reliability. Click here to learn more about your electric bill.
what are wholesale power agreements?
During the early years of its existence, WRVEC had to buy its power from private for-profit utilities, often at high costs, with WRVEC having little bargaining power. To better serve its members and meet the growing demand for reliable, more affordable power, WRVEC signed wholesale power contracts with Sho-Me in 1948 and KAMO in 1960. We receive 15% of our current electric load from Sho-Me and 85% from KAMO.
the features
These contracts define WRVEC’s service area and require Sho-Me and KAMO to meet our energy needs 24/7/365 by providing transmission service to the substations where WRVEC takes delivery of the power. Seeing significant benefits and safeguards from market vulnerabilities, the contracts were extended in 2015 until 2075.
the benefits
Without these agreements, it would be difficult to justify the enormous cost of supplying power. Benefits include:
– Energy reliability
– Low-cost, diverse generating portfolio
– Rate affordability and stability
– Financial strength
– Cooperative Network value
– Compliance
what is the load factor?
Another factor that goes into your rates is WRVEC’s load factor. Load factor is defined as the average load by the peak load in a specified time period. A high load factor, typically over 50%, indicates that the load is using the electric system more efficiently — smaller peak, consistent demand, and year-round use of the system.
WRVEC has averaged 41% over the last 10 years . This directly correlates to the seasonal tourism in our area. An increase in load factor has an inverse relation to our incremental power costs. Cheaper rates equate to having more year-round commercial and industrial businesses to drive up an electric company’s load factor. Lower rates mean higher load factors – less of a peak, more consistent demand, and year-round use. It’s all relative. Comparing each co-op or other providers isn’t exactly apples to apples because each provider has a different load mix. Therefore, economic development is vital to our sustainability.
Governance
Cooperatives are unique businesses because they are owned by you, the member. This means you have a voice in the way we run the co-op. Members elect the WRVEC board of directors and have the ability to run for a seat on the board if they wish to do so. Your vote and participation helps to shape the direction of the cooperative.
Leadership
Nothing impacts the successful achievement of our mission more than the people hired by the co-op. High expectations are set for each employee and we recognize that co-op communities are best served when we employ wise, talented, and responsible decision makers. To attract the best talent, we must compete with other utilities, as well as technology, finance, engineering, and public relations firms. Recruiting and retaining the talent needed to operate our cooperative effectively is vital.
While salaries represent a small fraction of the overall expenses, it is important that we pay competitive, market-based wages to our employees. We rely on national studies and industry research to ensure that compensation plans are accurate. Scroll over the numbers to learn more about the responsibilities and compensation of our cooperative’s key decision makers.
CEO
The CEO is charged with operating a large, complex business that’s unlike other small businesses in our communities. The responsibility of powering essential services in ALL our communities is an expectation of the CEO; local hospitals, schools, factories, communication systems, water treatment facilities and more. Compensation comparisons should be made with similarly-sized businesses that have critical infrastructure responsibilities.
Board of Directors
Directors spend significant time and energy serving in this complex and rapidly changing industry. They also have a fiduciary duty to the co-op and face potential liability for breaching that duty. They are compensated for their leadership role in guiding the direction of the co-op and accepting the risk and responsibility of being a director in that capacity.
Employees
Employee compensation represents a small fraction of the overall expenses of a cooperative. Many factors are considered when determining salary - including tenure, experience, education, responsibilities, and the size and location of the co-op.
Cooperative Network
Our business is complex and we are making multi-million dollar decisions that affect a lot of people, decisions that demand industry experience and education. Our power suppliers also require season directors. It’s important that we continue to have a seat at the table so we can have a voice in their decision-making.
Keeping Connected
Education, Training, & Information is one of our core principles. It is our duty to educate our members on topics such as our various programs and their benefits, safety, energy efficiency, outage restoration efforts, and the overall operations of the cooperative. Money is allocated each year for member communications. This amount represents a small fraction of the overall expenses of a cooperative and does not affect the rates members pay.
You may see member communications in the form of:
- Public service announcements, education initiatives, and sponsorships
- Posters, flyers, letters, and other promotional material
- Posts, comments, digital displays, etc.
