SERVICE AVAILABILITY CHARGE
Berkeley Electric Cooperative charges a daily $0.99 Service Availability Fee in order to receive residential service and $1.18 daily for commercial accounts. This fee was previously bundled in with the Energy Charge on members' bills but was broken out as a line item charge on January 1, 2017.
In conjunction with this change, Berkeley Electric Cooperative also lowered its base rate for all residential members to ensure that the change was revenue neutral overall for the cooperative. Individual members could still see a change in their bill based on their amount and pattern of electricity use. A full explanation of the Service Availability Charge was published prior to its implementation in SC Living magazine (pgs 20 B-C).