Billing
MEC currently has four standard billing cycles. MEC’s service area is roughly divided into four areas. The members in each of the areas are issued bills on one of the first four Tuesdays of each month. If you have a question on when your bill is issued, please contact our Member Service Department at (541) 536-2126 or (800) 722-7219.
MEC offers a number of different payment options to its member/owners for their convenience:
Pay On-Line Using SmartHub with a credit or debit card. In addition to paying the bill online, members can view billing history, monitor energy usage, receive notifications via email or text message, report outages and track outage restoration progress and check MECs news feeds.
Automatic Credit Card Payment allows monthly electric bill payments to be automatically charged to a credit or debit card.
Electronic Funds Transfer allows electric bill payments to be automatically withdrawn from a checking or savings account.
In Person at the MEC headquarters facility located at 16755 Finley Butte Rd, La Pine, Oregon. A cashier is located inside during working hours, Monday – Thursday 7:00 am to 5:30 pm. MEC is closed Fridays, weekends and holidays.
Payment Kiosk installed at the entrance of the MEC headquarters facility, is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Members must have their account number to make payments or view bills and payment history. Payments can be made by cash, credit or debit card. The payment station does not have the ability to provide change. Payments made in excess of the bill will be credited to the account.
Drive-up Payment Depository located in the parking area at the MEC headquarters facility, is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Drop Boxes are located inside Washington Federal Bank in Gilchrist, La Pine and Lakeview. Payments can be made with cash, check or money order at these locations.
By Phone – Call 541-536-2126 or 800-722-7219, option 8. The system prompts for an account number and will provide account balance and instructions on how to pay with a credit card or debit card. The system is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
By Mail using the self-addressed envelope enclosed with the bill.
Budget Billing provides the option to have the annual electric bill averaged for a 12-month period so payments are the same each month.
VISA, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover Card are accepted.
A Prompt Payment Discount is available to all members who pay their electric bill in full within 10 days of the billing date. By doing so, a 1.5% credit is applied on the next month's electric bill.
MEC has qualified people on staff to discuss the possible causes for increased usage patterns. We also have representatives available to visit your home to perform a free walk-through energy audit, which can provide additional insight to increased consumption patterns. For more information about a free energy audit, contact the Marketing Department at (541) 536-2126 option 5 or (800) 722-7219 option 5.
As energy is a commodity that is used prior to being billed, all billings are due upon receipt. Members that pay their bill in full within 10 days of the billing date receive a 1.5% prompt payment discount, which is applied toward their next bill.
Payments are considered delinquent if they are not received by the time of your following month's billing. In the case of an account not being paid in full before the next billing statement is issued, a late payment charge of 1.5% or $5.00, whichever is greater, is assessed on the past due balance.
A late notice statement is printed on all delinquent bills and makes reference to the service being subject to disconnect if payment is not received. If the account remains unpaid, the co-op will send a “Notice of non-payment” to you in the mail, which references a specific day of disconnect.
If payment is still not received before the disconnect date, MEC will attempt to contact you via an automated phone call.
If payment is still not received, a service person will be dispatched to your service, and will attempt to collect the past due balance and a collection fee. If this is unsuccessful, the service person will disconnect the service and leave a “door knocker”. Members will need to contact the office at this point to determine the dollar amount needed to get the service reconnected.
MEC does offer members the option to make payment arrangements on accounts with past due balances, as long as the member has kept all previous payment arrangements for a period of twelve months, and the arrangements are made prior to the scheduled non-pay disconnect date.
If you are having trouble making your electric payment, please contact our Member Service Department before the disconnect day. In most cases, something can be worked out.
Engineering / Operations
Services are limited to 200 feet because of voltage drop. Generally, the longer the service, the more your lights will flicker when various loads start in your home. It is not possible to eliminate flicker entirely but, 200 feet, with the common loads we see in this area, is a good balance between flickering lights and cost/convenience. Some utilities limit their secondary service length to 100 feet. Shorter lengths are many times required where there are large air conditioning and compressor loads.
MEC installs only underground secondary services due to the many problems we have experienced with trees falling through overhead services.
MEC requires that 3” electrical PVC conduit be installed in a trench with a minimum depth of 36” . The member must provide the trench from the meter site to the corner of your lot. MEC will install the wire in the conduit, provide any trenching in the public right-of-way, and will install any high voltage equipment that may be necessary to complete your service.
Our dispatchers have radio communications with our foremen and line crews at all times. This helps us respond quickly to a power outage. A line crew will be dispatched as soon as we know the location of the problem. Before we can be effective, there are several vital pieces of information that the dispatcher will need to know prior to dispatching a lineman. If you are prepared to provide this information when you report the outage, it will save time and get our crews heading to the location promptly.
•Your name, address and phone number
•The name as listed on your electricity bill
•When the power went out
•Did you check your breakers? (Most manufactured homes have two sets of breakers)
•Do your neighbors have power?
•Did you hear or see anything that could have caused the outage? (such as a tree falling on the line or a vehicle accident)
MEC has a different number for after hour power outages. Please call (541) 536-2165 or (800) 752-5935 to speak to a dispatcher. If the outage is extensive, the phone lines may be busy. PLEASE NOTE: Yard lights that are off and other maintenance that does not require immediate attention will be restored during regular business hours.
We know it is frustrating to be without power for any length of time. All of us depend on electricity during our day to day routines at home and at work. Be assured that we will proceed as quickly as possible when your outage is reported to us. We sincerely appreciate your patience during an outage.
As a rule, MEC’s power lines are located within the County road right-of-ways, which we have been given permission by the counties to maintain. MEC has an obligation to all of its membership to provide safe and reliable electricity at the lowest possible cost. By properly maintaining the right-of-way, the majority of our tree-related outages are eliminated, and the time taken to restore power in case of an outage is reduced. Clear access to our equipment saves time and money if repairs are needed. Proper right-of-way maintenance not only saves money and time, it increases our reliability and service to our membership. For more information about our tree trimming efforts, contact the Operations Department at (541) 536-2126 option 6 or (800) 722-7219 option 6.
“Call Before You Dig” is a slogan we use to promote safety and prevent accidental dig-ins to underground utilities which could result in injury to our members. The Central Oregon Underground Utility Coordinating Council handles the “one call” for locating buried utility facilities. To request a locate of the utilities on your property, call (800) 332-2344. Please prevent possible damage or injuries and call (800) 332-2344 today!
To save time, all permits required by the Counties we serve (water, sewer, septic and building) should be secured before requesting service from MEC. Our Engineering Department will need a scaled, detailed, and dimensioned plot plan of your lot to accurately engineer your service. Before MEC will connect your service, your meter base and wiring must be inspected and approved “green tagged” by the Electrical Inspector from the county in which the property is located.
In 2006, MEC launched the conversion of mechanical meters to Automated Meter Reading (AMR) meters to reduce operating costs. As of December 2011, every member’s mechanical meter was replaced with an electronic meter. AMR meters enable two-way communication between the meter and the co-op automatically recording the amount of electricity used. This “green” step is saving the co-op thousands of dollars per month in meter reading fees and fuel consumption.
MEC does not sell used full-length power poles, however, all junk poles are cut into eight-foot lengths and are available for $4.00 each. They make excellent fence posts and parking bumpers. Contact our Warehouseman at (541) 536-7240.
No. MEC's policy is not to compete with local electrical and hardware distributors.
Empty reels and pallets can be acquired. Please contact our warehouse for more information. 541-536-7240.
Yes - they are $2.00 each. Contact our Warehouseman at 541-536-7240.
Facilities Charge
Every service we use in our homes or businesses—whether its electricity, cable/satellite television, natural gas, propane or telephone/cell phone—has some form of a monthly charge to cover the cost of providing the service. It might be called a service charge, basic charge, fixed charge or monthly minimum charge. For MEC member/consumers, this monthly charge is called a facilities charge. It is a fair share investment that assures there is power when it is needed.
When you need electric power, all you have to do is flip a switch or plug into an outlet. What happens before that flip of the switch is a significant commitment of time, equipment, facilities and people your cooperative already has in place to ensure that power is there when you need it.
The expenses incurred by MEC for equipment and line maintenance, metering and billing services are relatively fixed; they do not vary according to your electricity use levels. By recovering a portion of these necessary expenditures through the facilities charge, instead of through energy charges (which do vary by levels of use), the costs are distributed fairly among member/consumers.
The facilities charge ensures that our members' expectations for continuous power and outstanding customer service are met. Recent reliability ratings show that out of the 8,760 hours during the year MEC delivered power, the power was on 99.94% of the time, and the latest customer service scores rank your cooperative among the top performing utilities in the country. This high level of service requires an equal investment from each MEC member.
Many fixed costs go into operating, maintaining and improving MEC’s system for every existing and future member. These include the costs for electrical system maintenance and replacement, tree trimming, outage restoration, taxes, insurance, materials, fuels and administration of the utility.
The majority of utilities determine the amount of the facilities charge through a cost of service study. Each utility’s circumstances are different. The amount of a utility’s facilities charge can be affected by a number of factors including the number of consumers the utility serves; the size of the utility’s service territory; the number of trees in the area served by the utility; the age of the utility’s system; and the utility’s growth in kWh sales. To help ensure long-term financial stability for the cooperative, the directors and management are working on a ten year plan to bring the monthly facilities charge to the actual cost.
MEC offers programs to help you better manage your electricity costs, such as free energy audits for homes and businesses, energy conservation tips, energy conservation rebates and payment options. If you would like more information about the facilities charge or our energy management programs, please call 541-536-2126.
New Service
A phone call to either 541-536-2126 or our toll free number, 800-722-7219, is all that is needed to get the process started. We will ask you some questions and send you an “Application for Service” along with a list of items that we need in order to ensure that your service will be done to both your and our satisfaction. You can always stop by our office between the hours of 7:00 A.M. and 5:30 P.M. Monday - Thursday, and one of our Member Service Representatives will be happy to assist you.
MEC will extend service 200 feet from the existing power lines for $800. Longer service runs and services such as RV, low usage, wells, etc. will need to be estimated by our engineering department on a case-by-case basis.
Possibly, if you choose standard billing. Since electric power is used prior to being billed, MEC may require a deposit prior to connection or to continue service as a guarantee of payment.
Interest will be paid on deposits, equal to the rate paid on the United States National Bank's Passbook Savings Account at the end of the previous year. If the deposit is held beyond one year, accrued interest will be paid by a credit to the member's account. If held less than one year, interest will be prorated.
Deposits may also be refunded or credited to the account at any time at the discretion of MEC. Normal refunding or crediting occurs after the member has established 12 continuous months of on-time payments with no past dues.
RESIDENTIAL RATE CLASS
The member's options regarding payment of deposits are:
1. Pay the required amount
2. Establish a PowerPay (prepaid) Metering account
The deposit requirement for residential service will be determined by the member’s established credit based on the following:
1. Credit rating from a recognized credit bureau based upon MEC’s credit criteria, or
2. Established credit history with MEC for 12 continuous months
The amount of the deposit is based on member’s established credit history and will be:
1. Good credit history- no deposit required
2. Marginal credit history -2 times the average monthly bill for the service location.
3. Poor credit history - 3 times the average monthly bill for the service location.
New construction members unable to establish good credit history will be charged a minimum deposit.
ALL BUSINESS RATE CLASSES
To determine if a deposit will be required for business service, either of the following will be used to establish the member’s credit history:
1. The prospective commercial business applicant must provide proof of prior service either with MEC or another electric utility for a period of 12 consecutive months within the past 24 consecutive months with no late payments.
• The credit history must be in the same name as the applicant or business applying for the service.
• The credit history must be the same rate class.
2. Provide MEC with an assignment of either:
a. Bank Certificate of Deposit
b. Surety Bond
SMALL AND LARGE COMMERCIAL RATE CLASSES
The amount of the deposit will be:
1. Good credit history- no deposit required
2. Marginal credit history -2 times the average monthly bill for the service location.
3. Poor credit history - 3 times the average monthly bill for the service location.
4. New construction services - members unable to establish good credit history will be charged 3 times the average monthly bill based on MEC engineer’s estimated usage for that service based on a 75% load factor.
IRRIGATION RATE CLASSES
The deposit for this service class will be a two month average bill based on the service location's historical usage during the previous irrigation season.
The deposit for a new service or where the service location lacks full historical usage for the previous irrigation season will be two times MEC's estimated average monthly usage for the service using the seasonal rate at a 75% load factor.
INDUSTRIAL RATE CLASSES
The deposit for this service class will be a two month average bill based on the service location's previous twelve month's historical usage.
The deposit for a new service or where the service location lacks 12 months of historical usage will be two times MEC’s engineer's estimated average monthly usage for the service.
