Accounts are billed around the 1^st of the month. Several days afterward, you can expect to receive your bill in the mail unless you’ve signed up for e-billing.

If you’d like to receive an email when your bill is ready, sign up for SmartHub.

Click on the image below for a PDF with descriptions of each section on your electric bill. 
 

You can pay your bill online, by phone, mail, or in person at our main office or the Fort Thompson Kiosk.

For more payment information, visit Payment Options.

SmartHub is a portal for members to access account information, including billing, usage, and payment history. Members can also make payments, report outages, and update account information.

Sign up for SmartHub

Click the instructional guides below.

For the computer	For the mobile device

Payments are due in the office by the 20^th of the month, regardless of the postmark date.

Late fees are calculated as 1.5% of the bill total or a minimum of $5.00.

After an account has been disconnected for non-payment, the member is required to pay the account balance in full (including the current and past due amounts), a $30.00 disconnect fee, a $30.00 reconnection fee, and a deposit if there isn’t one already or if it is not current. 

The deposit is calculated as 2x the monthly average at that service location.

This monthly charge is a flat fee designed to recover a portion of the cost of delivering electric energy to all members. It's reflective of the investment in poles, wires, transformers and equipment necessary to provide you with electric service. It also supports fleet, facility and customer service functions, such as line maintenance, right-of-way clearing and general administrative responsibilities. Regardless of how often you flip on the light switch or the TV, these costs are part of the bill so that electricity is available to you whenever you want it.

If one member uses only one kilowatt-hour of electricity and another member uses 100 kWh, Central Electric still incurs about the same cost to build line, maintain the distribution system and deliver electricity to both customers. It takes just as much equipment to deliver one kilowatt-hour as it does 100 kilowatt-hours. This is why the monthly facility charge is important in recovering a portion of the cost of delivering electricity.

Demand is the rate at which electricity is used. It is the amount of electricity required to power all of your lighting, heating and cooling equipment and plugged-in appliances at the same time.

RESIDENTIAL: A demand charge of $1 to $2 per KW is applied to general service rates. This charge is based on the highest amount of electricity a member uses during any 15-minute period throughout the month. Members who require more capacity will contribute more through the demand charge.

• Using a lot of electric equipment at once = higher demand
• Spreading out the use of electric equipment = lower demand

Staggering the use of electric appliances lowers your demand. To monitor your energy usage and demand, members can download the SmartHub app on a cell phone or tablet. 

COMMERCIAL: The peak or maximum demand charge for business and commercial members will vary. Adjusting how and when electric equipment is running could reduce monthly demand charges. Contact the office to learn more about the load management program to manage energy usage.