Outage Map
Central Electric is a not-for-profit member-owned entity that purchases nearly all of its wholesale electricity from the Bonneville Power Administration.
The great value of this low-cost, clean, carbon-free hydroelectric power enables CEC to deliver safe, reliable electricity to its members at some of the lowest rates in the county.
Like with almost all goods and services, costs continue to rise, including BPA’s wholesale power, requiring CEC to adjust rates.
This year, the average residential bill is expected to increase by approximately 8.5%.
To view how other rate classes are affected, please visit Rate Schedules – Central Electric Cooperative.
Effective October 1, you will see the rate adjustment on your November bill.
Central Electric is a not-for-profit member-owned entity that strives to keep costs down while providing and maintaining safe, reliable, and affordable services to our members.
The primary cost driver influencing this action is the Bonneville Power Administration’s nearly 19% increase for its power and transmission services over the three-year rate period, beginning October 1, 2025, and ending September 30, 2028.
Included in these costs are BPA’s capital investments, as well as its fish and wildlife and conservation programs.
In addition, CEC continues to be affected by inflationary cost pressures on equipment, including utility poles, transformers, reclosers, and overhead and underground electric conductors.
CEC utilizes a cost-of-service analysis, an effective tool for designing rates that fairly and equitably assign cost responsibility to each rate class.
The COSA assigns all costs incurred by the co-op to build, operate, and maintain its system across various member classes, including residential, commercial, industrial, and irrigation. The process examines the revenue required to be collected from each of these classes to ensure they are paying their fair share of total operating costs.
To help members avoid bearing the brunt of these pass-through costs all at once, CEC is taking steps to spread them out over a three-year period.
CEC’s residential rates remain 26% lower than those of the state’s two largest investor-owned utilities, while the federal Energy Information Administration shows CEC’s residential rate will remain 33% below the national average and 14% below Oregon’s average.
Each year, CEC conducts a thorough budgeting process to analyze costs to ensure we continue to provide safe, reliable, and affordable electric service. We proactively evaluate our costs, maintain a lean operational budget, and plan for responsible projects and investments to enhance our infrastructure and service reliability.
We encourage you to contact our energy efficiency team, who will be happy to help you explore ways to offset the impact through energy efficiency measures, which can help you manage your electricity use more effectively. We also offer a wide range of rebates to help reduce costs or, in some cases, cover the total costs of improvements.
Central Oregon offers various options for those in need of assistance due to different circumstances. For more information, please visit Assistance Options – Central Electric Cooperative.