Dear Coast Electric Members,

First, let me again apologize for the billing error that affected your account. As your CEO, I made the decision to bill your account for the kilowatt hours you used between January 2024 and August 2024, but due to human error, those kilowatt hours were billed at the incorrect rate. As humans, we sometimes make mistakes. My hope and prayer is that the goodwill we have built over 85 years won’t be diminished based on this billing error, or your cooperative attempting to correct the underbilling. My reasoning for asking you to pay this amount is that you were billed at less than half of the correct kilowatt hour rate, and less than what Coast Electric paid to purchase those kilowatt hours. I now realize our attempt to collect this underbilling was the wrong course of action, and we will not be adding these charges to your bill. This was our mistake, so we will find other ways to reduce expenses to make up the difference. For those of you who think we should have done that all along, you are not wrong, and that is solely on me.

For the inconvenience and hardship this decision has caused you over the last few days, I sincerely apologize. I have worked at Coast Electric for nearly 30 years, and my goal every day has been to work diligently to improve the quality of life for our members. Clearly in this case I failed and must admit that my attempt to protect the financial integrity of the cooperative was not in your best interest.

There have been a lot of things said about this billing error on social media, in calls and visits to our offices, to our employees in the field, and I want you to know that we listen to our members. As a not-for-profit electric cooperative, we truly do have your best interest at heart, and when we make a mistake, we are willing to admit it and change course.

Your cooperative exists to serve the interests of its members. I hope that you will see that we really do care about you as members, and we are always willing to listen and do the right thing. I believe we have a very strong record of being advocates for our members, and I hope you see the decision to forgive this debt as proof.

Thank you for your continued membership.

Sincerely,

Ron Barnes
CEO, Coast Electric