Your heating and cooling system is the biggest user of electricity in your home. When outside temperatures are unusually high or low, your energy costs can fluctuate significantly from month to month or year to year.
To level the impact of abnormally hot or cold weather on electric bills, SCE&G, in 2010, introduced the Electric Weather Normalization Adjustment (eWNA).
What is the eWNA and how does it work?
The eWNA is a way of leveling the effect of abnormal weather on customer bills while also allowing the company to recover necessary operating costs. When extreme cold snaps in winter months or unbearable heat waves in summer months cause your electricity use to rise more than normal, the eWNA ensures that you are charged for the energy you use at a rate adjusted for normal temperatures. In these situations, your bill will be lower than it would have been for the extreme weather.
Conversely, if unusually mild winters or unseasonably cooler summers cause your electricity use to decline more than normal, the eWNA will result in a higher electric bill than it would have been for the milder weather. Bottom line, the eWNA adjusts your bill to reflect your temperature-related electric costs (excluding fuel costs) for normal, not abnormal, weather.
"Normal" weather is based on the average temperature over the past 15 years for each billing period. SCE&G compares the actual temperatures to the 15-year average for each billing period.
Why did SCE&G implement the eWNA?
The goal of the eWNA is to level the effects of abnormal weather on the customer and the company. The eWNA protects customers from spikes in electric costs caused by abnormal weather while also allowing SCE&G to continue to recover normal operating costs and provide you with safe, reliable electric service in any weather condition.
Will my bill adjust every month with the eWNA?
It is possible that your bill will be adjusted each billing cycle. This is simply because it is unlikely that actual temperatures will be the same as the normal temperatures for each day of the billing cycle. Adjustments are indicated by a credit or debit to the cost per kWh.
How is the eWNA rate determined?
The method used to determine the eWNA rate is approved by the Public Service Commission of South Carolina (PSC). Among the variables that impact this rate are the actual billing period and deviation from normal usage for your rate and user type (single-family versus multi-family, for example). Each billing period will be unique based on the weather for that period of time.
Will the eWNA make all my bills the same amount?
No. The eWNA is not the same as SCE&G’s Budget Billing Plan, which totals your annual electric usage and averages it over 12 months so that your bill is the same amount each month. To learn more about Budget Billing, please visit our Budget Billing page.
