HOA Electricity Usage: Go by advertised rate (Ga Power)?

[jakswa]

Hello there, I have a charger installed inside a shared parking garage at my loft, and am currently in casual negotiations with my HOA about the rate I will be paying for my usage. Georgia power currently advertises something around $0.06/kWh for residential, off-peak usage. However, after taxes and fees (some of which are usage-based), that rate goes up to somewhere near $0.12/kWh.

Currently, the assumption is that I'll be paying the after-tax, after-fees rate of $0.12, and I have no argument so far with that, since it seems like my usage will cost them that much. Does anyone have more experience with utility rates, and can chime in on whether this seems logical? I am making a call to my power utility tomorrow to at least ask, "What should I pay?" If I can gather any other important questions, I'd like to get those in as well. Maybe something like this would affect the situation: "Do the usage-based fees tail off after certain, high amount of usage?"

My hope is to get a more-official answer from the utility about how my HOA should go about charging me for usage, and any questions I can muster to get me there would be appreciated!

 

[DarkStar]

Well, I would definitely contact your local power utility and find out which "schedule" your HOA is on. Odds are they are on a business or commercial rate, which can be lower than the residential rate.

The "schedule" document from the power utility should have a complete breakdown on all the fees, including taxes and franchise fees. (Here's an example of what my local utility has: Portland General Electric Rate Schedules)

My local utility even has a "rate summary" that breaks every schedule down and includes the average cost per kWh.

 

[keydiver]

Does your HOA have a recent bill? Most electric bills break everything down, so you can easily see the kWh rates.

 

[smkettner]

Get a copy of the actual bill. Just divide the total due with the total kWh used. If they are on TOU then you need to just use that segment that you will mostly use.