When their January electric bills arrive in the mail, some western Travis County residents may be surprised to find a refund in the form of a rebate. The temporary rebate provided by the Pedernales Electric Cooperative—an electric utility whose ownership is shared among its customers—is the result of increased revenue that will be dispersed to shareholders, Communications Manager Kay Jarvis said.

From Dec. 1-31, the PEC will implement a revenue adjustment factor, or RAF, to its electric rates, effectively lowering the bills of its customers, she said. The PEC board of directors approved this per-kilowatt-hour credit Oct. 29 because sales of electricity for 2015 are slightly higher than forecasted. The December RAF will be the first time the credit program has been applied to customers’ rates, although directors may implement the program in the future as revenues dictate.

“As a not-for-profit utility, PEC’s goal is to collect only funds needed to operate in a financially sound manner,” said Ingmar Sterzing, vice president of power supply and energy services. “The co-op has been working diligently to put into place lower rates and mechanisms that benefit our members, and the revenue adjustment factor was born from those efforts. To our knowledge, only one other cooperative is utilizing this mechanism.”

The 70-year-old cooperative adjusts rates monthly to reflect the cost it pays for power and delivery from its suppliers. The PEC delivers electricity to more than 270,000 users and 8,100 square miles of Central Texas.