Sam Houston Electric Cooperative

At Sam Houston Electric Cooperative, we’re not in the business of making money for investors. We’re here to serve our member-owners. Part of that responsibility is to ensure the costs of purchasing electricity for and delivering electricity to our members are covered. By maintaining the Co-op’s financial stability we can continue effectively serving the more than 50,000 members who rely on us to provide power.

The cost of your electricity includes several components. Approximately 60 percent of the total cost of your Sam Houston EC bill is made up of the Co-op’s wholesale costs to buy electricity generated at power plants. The other 40 percent of your bill is made up of the cost to deliver purchased power to our service area and distribute that power to our members over the lines Sam Houston EC owns and maintains.

Sam Houston Electric has a history of maintaining stable base rates. In fact the period from 1992 through 2006, your Cooperative held the line as other commodities surged upwards. That's really something when you consider everything that the cost of just about everything else has risen in the last 15 years.

Although Sam Houston EC will implement a rate change July 1, 2006, you can be assured that the electricity you receive is still among the lowest cost in Texas. Your Cooperative works hard to deliver affordable, reliable electricity, and with your consent, will continue to do so for years to come.

When you compare what electricity costs to other luxuries, it seems pretty reasonable. For example, two full days, that's 48 hours of electricity for the average home, costs about the same as a meal at a fast food restaurant. However, the rising costs of fossil fuels such as natural gas, oil and coal will continue to affect every sector of our economy, including the price of electricity.

At the end of the day - despite the rise in the cost to generate electricity from natural gas, it's safe to say that electricity from Sam Houston Electric remains one of the best bargins around.