Relay For Life is a life-changing event that helps communities across the globe celebrate the lives of people who have battled cancer, remember loved ones lost, and fight back against the disease. 
SVEC Members, please consider making a donation to the American Cancer Society. 
To donate to the SVEC Team, click here

Electricity remains a great value

Despite the rising price of gasoline, food, and health care, one thing remains constant: The outstanding value of electricity. We use electricity to charge cell phones, tablets, and computers. Electricity keeps people warm in the winter and cool on a hot summer day. It powers our TVs, appliances, lights, and DVRs. It keeps schools, hospitals, and industry open for business. Electricity powers our lives. With the quick flip of a switch, electricity turns the darkness to light.

Despite the ever-growing demand for power, electric rates have increased slower than the price of other products, making electricity a remarkable bargain. This has happened through technology advancements and by diversifying electric generating resources in order to take advantage of differing fuels that have lower costs. 

From 2009 to 2011, the price of electricity has actually declined by four percent, according to the Florida Electric Cooperatives Association.

Compare this to other commodities such orange juice, up 4.6 percent a year the past 10 years, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. A pound of ground roast coffee climbed 8.7 percent annually the past decade. A dozen eggs jumped an average of 9.8 percent per year.

Each year, the cost of gasoline in Florida has increased. In the past six years, the price of gasoline per gallon climbed an average of 10 percent a year, from $2.35 in 2006 to $3.92 as of March 30, 2012, according to FloridaStateGasPrices.com.

Seventy-five years ago, nearly 90 percent of our rural ancestors were living in the dark—forced to rely on iceboxes to cool food, kerosene lamps for lighting, wood stoves for cooking, and fetching water from wells. Thanks to electric cooperatives, the face of rural America changed.

Electric cooperatives strive to provide affordable, safe, and reliable electricity.  Approximately 42 million people in 47 states are members of electric cooperatives. In addition, since electric cooperatives are not-for-profit and serve their members directly, cooperative members often get money back in the form of capital credits or patronage refunds. Since 1988, more than $9.5 billion has been returned to members by electric cooperatives.

Although we all may wish our electric bills were a little lower, the value of electricity remains high, and just as important, it is there when we need it.

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