Welcome to Anza Electric Cooperative

News/Events

Santa Ana Wind Conditions: Possible Power Outages 10-10 and 10-11

The National Weather Service in San Diego has issued a Red Flag Warning, which is in effect from 3 AM Thursday to 6 PM PDT Friday.

A Red Flag Warning means that critical fire weather conditions

are either occurring now or will shortly. A combination of

strong winds, low relative humidity, and warm temperatures can contribute to extreme fire behavior.

AEC will continue to monitor conditions and provide updates accordingly.

Due to these conditions, there is the possibility of Public Safety Power Shut offs on Thursday 10/10/2019 and Friday 10/11/2019.

Please be prepared!

APPLY NOW FOR A FREE COMPUTER

AEC is distributing FREE computers to income qualified individuals

AEC has teamed up with the County of Riverside and KOYT radio to provide free refurbished computers to income qualified individuals.

We have over 50 Refurbished Desktop computers with Windows 10 & Office Pro ready to be given away. Applications are available at the KOYT and AEC offices
or click here for the English application, click here for the Spanish application.

Capital Credits

Capital Credits are being returned this month, September 2019.

This year AEC is returning $500,000.00 in capital credits to members. Since 1989 AEC has returned over $11 million.

Rural electric cooperatives, such as Anza Electric Cooperative, Inc. (AEC) operate differently than investor-owned utilities (IOU's). Electric cooperatives are not-for-profit entities, delivering electricity to their membership at the cost of service. IOU's, on the other hand, exist to make a profit, a part of which is distributed to investors in the form of dividends. These dividends are only available to those who invest in the utility. The remainder of the profit is retained by the IOU.

In the cooperative model, excess revenue that is left over at the end of the year must be returned to it's membership in the form of Capital Credits. The amount returned is in proportion to the member's electric bill. A member with high electric bills will earn more capital credits than a member with lower electric bills.

This year AEC is returning a portion of capital credits earned from 1998 through 2017.

Look for your credit on your September bill. Former members will receive a check in the mail.

Wildfire Preparedness. Are you ready?

Devastating wildfires threaten California every year.
CAL FIRE is reminding Californians that when it comes to wildfires, remember “Ready, Set, Go!”. Be Ready for a wildfire by maintaining 100 feet of Defensible Space and hardening your home with fire resistant building materials. Be Set for a wildfire by having a wildfire action plan in place so you know what to take and where to go if you are evacuated. Lastly, go early when a wildfire approaches or you are asked to evacuate.

Homeowners looking for additional information on how to prepare themselves, their families and their homes for wildfire can visit www.ReadyForWildfire.org. The site offers tips for residents to make their homes more resistant to wildfires and to ensure that their families are ready to evacuate early and safely when a wildfire strikes.

Help us Help You - Financial Assistance Available

We all have times in our lives that we need a little help with the everyday issues that come up occasionally; the kind of issues that involve financial challenges.

As a member owned and controlled cooperative, one of our basic principles is “Concern for Community.” For Anza Electric, this simply means that we have a responsibility to do what we can to make the place that we all live a little better. When our members have financial challenges, we want to be able to help. Here are three programs available to do just that:

Smiles 4 Seniors

If you’re over 65 and meet certain income requirements, this non-profit program provides emergency assistance and safety net services to struggling low income seniors who would otherwise have nowhere to turn. Contact them at Smiles for Seniors Foundation P.O. Box 1113 Yucaipa Ca. 92399. (909)790-6671 or visit their website at www.smilesforseniorsfoundation.org

Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)

Administered by the Community Action Partnership of Riverside County, this federally funded program provides utility payment assistance and weatherization services to low income customers in Riverside County. Apply online at www.capriverside.org/program/utilityassistanceprogram

Cooperative Care Program

This program is truly what our Cooperative is all about- helping our Members. We started this program ourselves, looking for a way to provide a helping hand when and where it’s needed. Members are eligible for up to $300 assistance annually, and the Thimble Club administers the program. It’s funded through Operation Roundup®, which rounds up participants’ electric bills to the nearest dollar, and contributing the extra change to the program. Funding is also provided through escheated Capital Credit funds.

To get more information on this unique program, visit our website here: www.anzaelectric.org/content/assistance-utility

To sign up for Operation Round Up info, please visit:

www.anzaelectric.org/content/operation-round

Or, stop by the office or give us a call at (951)763-4333. We’re always glad to help.

Is there Life Support Equipment in your home?

Occasionally, it’s necessary to perform maintenance on our equipment and that sometimes involves temporarily disconnecting our members’ power.
The members most affected are those who are on life support. We maintain a list of those who depend on any type of life support system and we use
this list to notify these individuals of a planned outage.
If you or someone in your household is on life support please be sure and let us know.
Identification tags are also placed on meters to alert crews of the existence of a life support system.

Because power outages can’t always be controlled and the duration of the outage may be extensive, it’s important to maintain a sufficient
backup supply of oxygen or other medical equipment you may need during this time.

Late Payment FAQ

Is your account past due?

If your due date has passed or you have a payment arrangement you have not kept, contact the AEC office right away. In most cases, we can offer some additional payment time.

What will happen if I don’t pay by the due date?

The short answer is, your service will be disconnected. Disconnecting services for the non-payment is the last thing we want to do. That's why we encourage members to contact the AEC office.

If you receive a delinquent notice on your bill, you will need to respond by the date hi-lighted in the message and also listed in red at the bottom of the bill as the “Disconnect Date. ”

If you have already made a payment arrangement and find you can’t keep the date, be sure to contact the AEC office to see if new arrangements can be made. If no arrangement exists or an arrangement has been broken, a message will be sent to the phone number(s) we have on file letting you know to respond by a specific date and time to avoid disconnection.

Operation Round Up

Rounding up your bill can make a difference - Operation Roundup

Your spare change alone may not make a big difference – however, when you combine that spare change with all of your neighbors, it can change lives.

With that concept in mind, Anza Electric Cooperative established Operation Roundup as a way for our 4,000 members to combine their spare change for the benefit of the communities in this area.

The program was set up with the goal of making a big difference with small change. By allowing AEC to round up your monthly electric bill to the next higher dollar amount each month, the extra pennies are contributed to the AEC Operation Roundup fund.

Operation Roundup was started by Palmetto Electric Cooperative, in South Carolina, in 1989. Since then over 278 electric cooperatives nationwide have chosen to adopt the program.