Don’t let your electric bill surprise you this winter!

Did you know McKenzie Electric offers an electric heat rate? Many members are surprised by how much it costs to heat their residence or business through the cold winter months we experience here in North Dakota.

Take advantage of a discounted electric heat rate from October 1 to April 30 and keep your bill low! First, a meter socket (provided free of charge) must be installed on your home or business by a licensed and insured electrician. Then all you need to do is call us at 701.444.9288 and our meter technicians will get you set up with an electric heat (EH) sub meter. 

Before we get into how EH meters can save you money, let’s first take a look at how your meter tracks the power you consume:

The energy you consume is logged to your meter using a unit of measurement called a kilowatt hour (kWh); further broken down, kWh stands for 1,000 watts per hour. Let’s say you have a 100-watt lightbulb that has been lighting a room for ten hours. This would be shown on your meter as 1kWh. Every day, your meters report usage represented as kWh which is then billed at the beginning of following month. For example, the power you consumed in October won’t be billed to you until November so we’re sure the kWh you used is accurate and McKenzie Electric only purchased power consumed.  

Why is this information important to know? If you use a 1500 watt, portable, oil filled space heater to heat a room all day, you will be looking at 36 kWh used per day that will then be charged at the standard residential rate. But, if you have your electric furnace tied to a heat meter those kWh used will be billed at a discounted heat rate.

Make sure that your heat meter breaker is switched to the “ON” position in your breaker box by October to make sure you’re taking advantage of the special heat rate. Call us at 701.444.9288 and we’d be happy to help answer any questions you might have about your heat meter and how you can save money this winter season.