Billing Cycles to Change at Graham County Electric Cooperative

New once-monthly billing cycle will benefit Members and the co-op, starting Jan. 1 2025

One of the most basic things a utility does is undergoing change at Graham County Electric Cooperative, the not-for-profit, Member-owned utility that serves approximately 8,000 electric meters and more than 2,000 water meters in the Gila Valley.

On January 1, 2025, GCEC will eliminate two of it’s three monthly billing cycles and go to one billing cycle for every Member, residential or commercial, who gets their water and/or electricity from the co-op.

Meters, which are being switched from those that are manually read to new AMI, or Advanced Meter Infrastructure “smart” meters, will have their data automatically collected and electronically “read” on the first of each month, with bills going out – either mailed or electronically – by the 7th of each month.

GCEC CEO Phil Cook realizes it’s going to be a big shift for many Members, which is why the co-op is announcing the move three months before it happens, and making a commitment to help every Member through the transition.

“We realize this could be disruptive to some Members… which is why we’re going to work with all our Members, and especially those who are on fixed incomes or for some other reason could be disrupted by the change,” said Cook.

“Those who are used to getting their bill on the second, third week of the month, now they’re going to get it approximately on the 10th of the month; And for those who are on auto pay, we’ll continue that option and we’ll work with them as well to ensure their aware of the new schedule,” said Cook.

Cook said there is probably going to be a “learning curve” at first, but there are definite advantages to both the Members, and the co-op.

“First advantage to the member is, one, they know when they’re going to be billed, it’s always going to be on the same day of the month,” Cook said.

The advantage to the co-op, which in the long run will result in increased efficiency and lower costs for the Members, has to do with staffing.

“We work hard to manage staffing but the result is we have small crew size, small office staff, so when people are on vacation, or out sick, it can present challenges, so by having one billing cycle we can plan our own schedules to better serve the Members.

It’s going to make it more efficient for us, which in the long term saves money,” Cook said.

The date of Jan. 1 2025 has also been chosen so that the smart meter (AMI) project will be completed and the new meters will provide the billing data.

“We used to read meters with people but there are very few utilities that still have personnel who are meter readers… and another issue was, we had no ability to read all the meters in one cycle because it takes more than a week to read all the meters and so to be able to do so in one cycle was impossible, so we planned the meter changeout – and the billing cycle changes – to come together at the same time,” Cook said.

“That was a commitment we made early on,” Cook said.

And for those who think the co-op is going to make a profit with the changes, Cook has this reminder;

“We’re a not-for-profit that returns our margins to the Members, and we don’t ‘make’ large margins or profits and that’s not our purpose.

“The world’s changing, technologies are coming into play whether we want them to or not… so that means jobs change and it means there are new and different challenges, and we’re working to meet those challenges in ways that benefit our Members.

“That’s why planning matters, and why we’re working to get the message out to everyone so they can just be aware of it, and we’re committed to working with everyone involved to make this as painless as possible,” said Cook.