The 3.5 percent increase, approved by the Board of Directors at its December meeting, is the first rate bump in three years for Co-Mo. Members will see the increase for electricity use billed beginning April 1.

The rate increase equals about $4.16 a month for the average Co-Mo account. Specific rates for each rate class will be determined soon. 

Part of the reason of the increase is the addition of the 540-megawatt Chouteau 2 combined-cycle natural gas plant in Pryor, Okla., that began serving Missouri cooperative members in mid-2011. Now that the plant is online, the systems that benefit from its resources — including Co-Mo — have begun to pay their portion of its construction and operation.

“This is a tremendous new resource for us,” said Ken Johnson, Co-Mo’s general manager and chief executive officer. “Not only does it add to our diversity of resources we can use to generate electricity but it gives us enough capacity to meet our members’ needs and the rest of the Missouri cooperative members’ needs into the 2020s.”

Johnson also said the fact that the plant, which was completed on time and underbudget, is a natural gas plant and that natural gas prices remain extremely low is a huge benefit for cooperative members.

“We’re always looking to produce reliable power at the lowest possible cost. Coal is the backbone of our system, but with an uncertain future on how theEnvironmental Protection Agency regulations will affect coal combined with low natural gas prices, it’s great to have added more natural gas to our system,”he said.

The regulations Johnson speaks of are another contributing factor to the Co-Mo rate increase. More strident federal regulations during the past few years have put pressure on power suppliers across the country, especially those that rely on coal as the backbone of their system. Missouri consumers received 80 percent of their power from coal-fired power plants in 2011.

“We’ve been able to hold off on a rate increase for the past few years despite these increasing pressures from regulations and other costs of doing business,”Johnson said. “This year, the cost for us to purchase the power we distribute to our members is increasing to the point where we have to slightly increase our rates. 

Johnson said this slight increase will allow the cooperative to provide the top-notch service its members expect.

“The2012 budget that the Board of Directors approved in December also includes an additional right-of-way crew to help us keep trees and brush away from our lines in a shorter cycle around the system,” Johnson said. “That’s money we elect to spend up front to help avoid as many outages as possible when wind or snow or other bad weather hits. If we didn’t spend it up front, we’d be spending it after the storm rolls through, and then it’ll be when the power is out for our members.”

Despite the rate increase that will be reflected on bills delivered on April 1 or later, Missouri electricity rates remain among the lowest in the nation. The reason for that, Johnson said, is because of the plentiful and affordable supply of coal used to generate electricity in the state.

“That is directly related to our ability to use coal as the backbone of our generating fleet,” Johnson said.

Co-Mo’s power supplier, Associated Electric Cooperatives Inc., recently spent more than$1.4 billion over 10 years to decrease emissions from its power plants.

“The fact is,” Johnson said, “The power plants Co-Mo members get electricity from are environmentally responsible, and we’re hopeful the federal government sees that American consumers and American businesses rely on affordable energy from plants such as those to live their lives and to be successful. Affordable power is and will be one of the most important economic development tools available to the state of Missouri.”

ABOUT CO-MO ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE - Co-Mo's service area comprises approximately 2,300 square miles inCentral Missouri. Co-Mo exists to fulfill its members’ needs for superior electric and related services at fair and reasonable prices and support its communities through economic, civic and educational opportunities.

New services activated in the past week: 14

Total services online as of Monday morning: 39

What subscribers are saying: “We are very pleased with the broadband Internet! We have also been pleased with all of the workers. They have gone over and beyond to satisfy us!”

What installation involves:

Crews are in the process of visiting subscribers to hook them up to the Co-Mo Connect network. There are two parts to installing your service. The first part involves hooking equipment up outside, including a small box called an ONT on the side of your home. You do not need to be home during this process. If you are concerned about where this equipment will be located or have any issues with underground wires or sprinkler system, please call our customer service department at (800) 781-0157.

The second part is the in-home installation. You will receive a call from our installers to schedule this visit. You must be home for this portion of the installation.

Crews are working efficiently to get as many subscribers as possible online as soon as they can. No subscribers are being billed for their service while we finish construction of the pilot project network. Thanks for your patience.

Stages of installation:

1)   Construction of the mainline broadband network: Nearly complete! Should be finished in the next two weeks.

2)   Installation of “drops” outside homes: In progress. 30% complete

3)   In-home installations: In progress. 9% complete

Phone system update: Co-Mo is offering unlimited residential local and long-distance telephone for just $25 a month. Let your installation professional know you are interested or call us at (800) 781-0157. The phone network is scheduled for activation by the middle of February. Unlimited local and long-distance business rates are available. Call for details.

More information: The best place to getupdates about the progress of the pilot projects is to follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/comoconnect.