How Pee Dee Electric Buys Power

Pee Dee Electric treats our budget the same way you treat yours—by carefully managing income and expenses.

Our biggest expense is the cost of wholesale power, which represents about 60% of our total expenses. We buy this power from a generation and transmission cooperative that Pee Dee Electric and electric cooperatives across the state helped form decades ago called the North Carolina Electric Membership Corporation (NCEMC). We work with NCEMC to develop forecasts of how much power we’ll need based on historical analysis, weather patterns, and other factors.

A Look Ahead to 2026

Our wholesale power bill looks a lot like the one you get from Pee Dee Electric each month, including charges to access the electric grid, energy (kWh), and demand (kW).

The amount Pee Dee Electric pays to purchase electricity from NCEMC is going up because of costs associated with building new sources of electric generation, transmission upgrades to improve reliability while accommodating distributed energy resources such as large solar systems, inflation, and higher market and commodity prices, including fuel for power plants. We are just learning about these cost increases, and this is the earliest opportunity to share this information with our members.

Additionally, as demand for electricity grows, so too does its price tag. Demand has soared across the country over the last several years, primarily driven by the growth of commercial and industrial businesses, including data centers. To keep power reliable, many electric companies need to build new sources of power generation, which takes a big investment.

Rest assured—your electric cooperative continues to actively explore ways to control costs to mitigate necessary rate adjustments. We set our rates based on how much it costs to serve members.

Even with our efforts to control costs, the level of increases we expect to experience beginning in 2026 will result in the need to adjust electric rates beginning January 1. As soon as our rate consultant determines how much the adjustment will be, we will certainly communicate that information to our members.

We plan to share the details through upcoming issues of Carolina Country magazine, our website, and other avenues as appropriate, so please stay tuned for more information.

Working Together

Pee Dee Electric is not-for-profit business, which means we deliver electricity at the cost it takes to get it to your home, never to make a profit.

While many aspects of wholesale power cost increases are beyond our control, lowering peak demand is one way we can all work together to control wholesale power costs. The best way you can help is by lowering your energy use during times of peak demand, which occur between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. November through March.

No matter how complex the energy industry gets, we will always manage our business the way you manage your budget—thoughtfully and with care. You are our top priority, and our commitment to you has always and will always be to provide you with reliable, affordable electricity and outstanding service.

Thank you, members.