Dear Members:
Due to continuing cost increases, Plumas-Sierra REC is recommending an approximately 4% rate increase for 2027, starting with January usage billed at the end of January.
The driver of this rate increase is overall inflation, including increases in the cost of equipment, materials, poles, transformers, vehicles, labor, and fuel.
Another issue is the cost of greenhouse gas allowances for our High Desert Co-Generation facility. The California Air Resources Board recently decided that our natural gas purchases, as well as those of the city of Susanville and High Desert State Prison, all met the threshold to have to pay for greenhouse gas allowances. Our generation plant uses natural gas to produce power, and we will have to pay approximately an additional $500,000 per year due to the CARB decision, which by itself requires an approximately 1.5% rate increase.
There are 2 options for rate design for this increase. The first is to raise the residential kilowatt-hour rate by $.01 per kWh, which is about a 4% increase. This would leave the fixed charge at $49.99 and raise the residential kWh fee to $.1878 per kWh. The second is to raise the fixed charge and the kWh about 4% overall, meaning a fixed fee of $51.99 and a kWh fee of $.1849. Small Commercial rate increases will parallel those of residential.
The PSREC Board of Directors balances the needs and perspectives of different groups of members. Option 1 slightly favors low power users, including seasonal residents, people renting their property as short-term vacation rentals, members with solar, and those with mostly propane appliances. Option 2 slightly favors full-time residents of our region, members with electric vehicles, heat pumps, and other beneficial electrification. The second option is more aligned with true cost-of-service for the facilities charge.
We want your feedback on which choice you’d like and why. Email Executive Assistant Kaitlyn Beever. Kaitlyn will monitor member feedback.
There has been a lot of news recently about El Niño. It may be a wet winter. If we experience a wet winter and the federal government captures the water behind the dams, it may be possible to have a wholesale power cost adjustment that credits back some of the rate increase.
Our neighboring consumer-owned utilities are also raising rates. Lassen Municipal Utility District and Truckee-Donner PUD have approved multiyear increases of this approximate magnitude per year. PSREC is also recommending a likely additional penny per kWh equivalent for 2028 and 2029. All 3 consumer-owned utilities have a mechanism to temporarily cut back on planned increases if wholesale power prices are lower than budgeted.
Our rates are comparable to LMUD and Truckee-Donner PUD. PSREC is far less expensive than PG&E and Liberty Utilities, and our goal is to maintain that gap between us even though we have far fewer customers per mile than PG&E or Liberty.
The cooperative is hosting a rate meeting in person and online at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, November 4, at our Portola headquarters and at the Milford Community Center. Attendees online and in person will be able to ask questions. Visit our website for the meeting link. There will be a separate irrigators' meeting. We will send a notice out to our irrigators for that meeting.
Annual Meeting
Thank you to everyone who joined us for our 2026 annual member meeting. If you missed it, a recording of the meeting can be viewed by searching Plumas-Sierra Rural Electric Cooperative on YouTube and selecting the 2026 PSREC Annual Member Meeting video. It was a full house, with a delicious dinner served by Paul and Sheri Roen. 1 lucky member went home with a $500 electric bill credit.
Member and Energy Services Manager Emily Compton announced the winners of the 2026 PSREC Photo Contest, as well as the scholarship and Youth Tour winners.
The American Legion Post #329 of Portola opened the meeting with the presentation of colors. The Portola Jr-Sr High School band performed “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Rev. Danny Burress, of the Red Rock Community Church, gave the invocation.
Tony Zimmer, general manager of the Northern California Power Agency; Michelle Williams, senior vice president and Sierra Nevada regional manager for the Western Area Power Administration; Rhonda Perkes, assistant manager of member relations; and Jessica Nelson, general manager of Golden State Power Cooperative, provided updates on the electric industry during the meeting. They discussed key issues facing cooperatives and the electric utility industry, including power supply, wildfire, and affordability.
Board President Fred Nelson reviewed accomplishments for the year, including the progress made on Plumas-Sierra’s Fort Sage transmission project. The project is partially funded by a Defense Community Infrastructure Grant. PSREC anticipates completion by the end of 2028. Lastly, Fred discussed the many telecommunications grants the cooperative’s wholly owned subsidiary, Plumas-Sierra Telecommunications, is working on.
As part of the general manager’s presentation, I spoke about the reliability the Fort Sage project will bring to PSREC members. I updated the membership on the progress of the latest grants PST has received from the Federal Funding Account and the California Advanced Services Fund, where those grant projects are located and where future grants are located. For more information on our broadband services, visit the PST website. Additionally, I gave a short rate presentation that discussed the need for a rate increase soon and the factors driving the increase.
In addition, I expressed my gratitude to PSREC and PST employees for their hard work keeping the lights and internet service on for our members. The board and I have been so proud of our employees throughout the past year.
We also had a Q&A session, where I addressed member questions, including questions about data centers, solar, and storage.
The board of directors is the governing body for PSREC and PST. They set policy, strategic direction, rates, and budgets. The board members attend classes and work hard to understand the complexities of the electric utility industry and the telecommunications business. We thank them for their hard work and commitment to PSREC and PST.
The membership elected Jerry Williams, District 6, and Nancy Miller, District 7, as directors.
I’d like to thank Emily Compton and Will Marquette for their efforts in planning the annual meeting, as well as the employees who volunteered at the event.
WRAP Program
PSREC offers a discounted rate for qualifying members through the Winter Rate Assistance Program. The discounted rate is available for November through April electricity use to income-qualified members.
For more information and an application, visit our website or call (530) 832-4261.
If you have any questions, call (800) 555-2207 ext. 6076 or email Bob Marshall.
Sincerely,
Bob Marshall
General Manager