Rate Change FAQ, Uncategorized

Changes to FEMA reimbursement rules or disaster recovery legislation can affect how quickly SVEC receives funds after major storms. Delays or reductions in reimbursements increase the financial burden on the cooperative – money that could otherwise be invested to better serve members and their access to safe, affordable, and reliable power.

How you can help:

Support H.R. 4669 – the bipartisan Fixing Emergency Management for Americans Act of 2025 aims to cut red tape, speed up disaster relief, and make FEMA an independent agency that reports directly to the president. Currently, co-ops often wait years for FEMA reimbursements after hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires and other disasters which drives up the cost for rural communities. This bill would change that by:

• Faster payments: FEMA must reimburse emergency work within 120 days once 90% of costs are approved.
• Quick reviews: FEMA must review long-term project estimates in 90 days and release funds within 30 days of approval.
• Smarter rebuilding: Co-ops could strengthen damaged systems instead of rebuilding them exactly as before.

Storm Costs

SVEC incurred over $130 million in just over 13 months following Hurricane Idalia, the May North Florida Tornadoes, Hurricane Debby, and Hurricane Helene. In addition, Florida co-ops alone have paid more than $12 million in disaster-related interest in recent years- money that could otherwise be invested to better serve Floridians and their access to safe, affordable, and reliable power. SVEC’s average daily interest on storm costs is approximately $15,000. 

Infrastructure costs

The past five years have been a period of exploding costs for the electric utility industry, pushed by soaring demand, supply chain challenges, raw materials shortages, increased labor costs and tariffs. The impact has been rapid increases in the cost of producing power, longer and more unpredictable project timelines and the need for more financing, all of which have driven electric rates up for residences, businesses, and other end-users. Here’s a look at what’s contributing to the trend across our industry:

SVEC is a not-for-profit electric cooperative owned by those we serve. Any margins (profits) are reinvested into the electric system and eventually retired back to our consumer-members through the capital credit process.

By default, notifications are sent to the email address associated with your account — the same one you use as a username. If you want notifications sent to a different email address or even texted to your mobile phone, you can do that too.

Once you have set up a contact, you need to change the contact on an active notification on the Manage Notifications screen to use the additional contact.

Notifications in SmartHub can email or text important information about your account, such as a reminder that your bill is due or if it’s past due. You tell SmartHub when and how to contact you. Some notifications even allow you to get specific, such as setting the numbers of days to remind you before your bill is due.

To send you a notification, you need to have contact information stored in the system. Be sure you’ve added contacts before setting your notifications.

Some common notifications include:

Some notifications are also specific to your account type. For example, prepaid customers might see different options than other customers.

Easily contact Suwannee Valley Electric Cooperative with billing questions, service issues or other requests, such as:

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