Homer Electric Association (HEA) is the member-owned electric cooperative that provides power across the Kenai Peninsula. It serves Kenai, Soldotna, Homer and communities across Kachemak Bay, and is known for its rate cases and community solar programs.
homerelectric.com ↗Homer, AK, USA
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Homer Electric bills rise about $8 a month as power cost charge climbs
An average Homer Electric Association household is paying about $8 more a month after the cooperative raised the charge it uses to pass along fuel and purchased-power costs Oct. 1.
The Cost of Power Adjustment rose from 10.32 to 11.76 cents per kilowatt-hour, adding $7.92 to the monthly bill of a residential member using 550 kilowatt-hours, according to HEA's October CEO report. HEA resets the charge every three months, separately from its base rate.
The charge reflects "primarily the cost of fuel and power purchased from the Bradley Lake Hydroelectric Project," the report says. It doesn't say which drove this increase.
Time off the grid has moved the charge before. When HEA is islanded, or cut off from the wider Alaska grid, it has to carry more spinning reserves on its own. Its July report credited that quarter's decrease partly to fewer hours of islanding.
HEA expects about 117 days of scheduled islanding over the next 12 months, plus a 65-day outage at its Nikiski Combined Cycle plant. It has also held back on Bradley Lake hydropower to save water for a large amount of islanding planned in 2027.
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About Homer Electric Association
homerelectric.com ↗Homer, AK, USA
Homer Electric Association (HEA) is the member-owned electric cooperative that provides power across the Kenai Peninsula, serving Kenai, Soldotna, Homer and communities around Kachemak Bay. It generates power from natural gas plants and buys hydropower from Bradley Lake.
Member bills rise and fall with a power cost charge tied to fuel and purchased power, and generator failures force the co-op to buy replacement power. Its fees for line extensions and hookups and its operating margins are set and reported to members, with rates subject to the Regulatory Commission of Alaska.
The cooperative is opening community solar and shared renewable subscriptions to members, and state rules on how much customer-owned solar a utility must accept shape that effort. It also holds an undersea cable corridor across Kachemak Bay that can carry fiber to roadless communities.