Over the years Bandera Electric Cooperative has established themselves as being member focused, providing programs and services that help support the membership including fiber broadband, energy efficiency programs, and our more recent Smart Thermostat and Smart Battery programs. All these programs bring value to the membership, but we really haven’t emphasized the value of affordability of electricity and its impact, especially on lower- and middle-income folks. We recently had a meeting with the Texas Energy Poverty Research Institute, and they were very glad to see our focus on affordability. While most electric utilities relish the projections of higher electric sales and profits, BEC’s focus has been on raising awareness on how you use energy, so you have more control of the costs.
This topic will only grow in its importance as the projections of electricity prices continue to rise. The information below comes from the TEPRI website.
The Texas State Data Center estimates that low-income households spend 12.5% of their annual income on home energy costs, versus 4.0% for non-low-income households. According to the Department of Energy, some low-income households pay as much as 28% of their monthly income to cover their energy needs. This extremely high energy burden has a detrimental impact on the family’s ability to meet other basic needs. TEPRI’s surveying of Texas households revealed that 26% of respondents keep their homes at an unsafe and unhealthy temperature (national average is 18%), and 29% of households buy less food or put off purchasing clothing or medicine to afford heating/cooling and to keep the lights on. 41% of the Texas population is considered low or middle-income and nearly 4 million Texans, or 14% of the population, are below the federal poverty line.
Compounding the problem, LMI households often live in older housing that is more susceptible to energy leakage, which causes high energy bills, health-related issues, and risks during weather related events.
Through our Energy Saver Program, BEC has assisted more than 1,049 members with improving the energy efficiency of their homes. Their energy savings have been documented between 10-26% depending on the improvements made. On average it’s about $236,000 in annual savings for those members.
BEC has been and will remain focused on keeping electricity prices affordable. Based on information from ERCOT, in 2025 the average cost of electricity for residential customers across the State was 15.33 cents/kWh. The residential electricity cost at BEC at the end of 2025 was 13.23 cents/kWh which 13.7% below the statewide average. We are proud to serve our membership and will continue to focus on reliable, affordable power.