Were it not for the unusual winter windstorm that hit Tideland territory on Dec. 23, there’s a good possibility many wouldn’t have remembered the extreme temperature lows we experienced as 2022 came to an end. Not only did the windstorm push temperatures down, it drove kilowatt-hour consumption up for those using some form of electric heat. In fact, consumption was up so much that many areas of North Carolina were subject to utility conservation measures that Tidelanders were able to avoid.

As a result, you may not have been caught off-guard by a higher than usual bill for period of time that included late December energy use. Fortunately, December 2022 was sandwiched between two lower-than-normal usage months, November and January, which contributed to overall lower heating requirements for the three-month period.

It is based on this frequent fluctuation of temperatures that we highly encourage members with post-paid accounts to take a serious look at levelized billing. It’s also why all residential members should enroll for a high use alert notification.