Dixie Electric Power Association (Mississippi) Rate Selection Guide
Dixie Electric Power Association (DEPA) is a not-for-profit, member-owned cooperative founded in 1938 and headquartered in Laurel, Mississippi, serving roughly 41,400 accounts across seven southeast Mississippi counties. Data access runs through the NISC SmartHub portal with AMI-backed usage views, but no Green Button, API, or EDI programs are documented — third-party access is manual with customer authorization.
Market Overview
As a Mississippi electric power association, DEPA operates as the exclusive distribution utility in its certificated territory with rates governed by its board; no competitive supplier choice exists.
Need to pull your actual usage data to compare rates? See the Dixie Electric Power Association (Mississippi) Data Access Guide →
Current Rate Schedules
Dixie Electric Power Association (Laurel, MS) maintains a standard schedule of rates covering residential, commercial, and industrial member classes, downloadable from its Rates & Fees page. Bills combine a per-kWh energy charge, a daily facilities charge ($0.99/day on residential R-15), and a monthly Power Cost Adjustment that passes through wholesale power costs from its G&T supplier (e.g., $0.0051/kWh in February 2025). Commercial and industrial accounts above small-service thresholds are billed demand on monthly peak kW — Dixie publishes member education on understanding and reducing demand charges. As a Mississippi cooperative, rates are set by the board and filed with the Mississippi Public Utilities Staff; see the rate schedule download for current figures.
Effective: February 1, 2025 · Full Tariff Book →
| Schedule | Type | Applicability | Structure | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small Commercial / General Service | commercial | Small business accounts below the cooperative's demand-billing threshold — offices, shops, small retail. | Daily facilities charge plus per-kWh energy charge and monthly Power Cost Adjustment; no demand charge at small-service scale. Download the rate schedule for current figures; see tariff for current rates. | — |
| Large Commercial / General Service with Demand | commercial | Commercial accounts whose load exceeds the small-service threshold; includes CT-metered services. | Facilities charge, per-kWh energy charge, Power Cost Adjustment, and a per-kW demand charge based on the account's monthly peak demand interval. Dixie's member FAQs cover demand calculation and reduction. See the rate schedule for current rates. | —+ Per-kW monthly peak demand; see rate schedule for current figure |
| Industrial / Large Power Service | industrial | Industrial members and large power loads, including poultry processing and manufacturing common in the Laurel/Hattiesburg corridor. | Demand-billed structure with facilities charge, demand charge per kW, energy charge per kWh, and Power Cost Adjustment; contract terms may apply for dedicated transformation. See tariff for current rates. | —+ Per-kW billing demand; see rate schedule for current figure |
| Agricultural / Poultry Farm Service | agricultural | Poultry houses and farm operations — a significant load class in Dixie's territory with dedicated underground service standards. | Commercial-class billing (facilities charge, energy charge, PCA, demand where applicable) under farm service specifications. See rate schedule for current rates. | — |
Rate Recommendations by Use Case
Manufacturing and processing plants
Industrial members in the Laurel-area corridor are billed demand on monthly peak kW, making peak control the primary lever.
Dixie bills demand on the highest usage interval of the month and actively educates members on demand reduction — a signal that demand charges are a material bill component. The cooperative's AMI metering provides the interval data needed to find and fix peaks.
- Stagger motor and compressor starts after shift changes and outages
- Request interval/demand data from Dixie to identify your monthly peak window
- Verify CT metering and transformer sizing match actual load to avoid over-billing
Poultry and agricultural operations
Poultry houses — a core load class for Dixie — combine ventilation-driven summer peaks with multi-meter farm layouts.
Tunnel fans, cool cells, and feed systems all peak coincident with summer heat. On demand-billed farm accounts, sequencing fan stages and pump loads caps peak kW; on energy-billed accounts, efficiency cuts both the energy charge and the monthly PCA pass-through.
- Stage tunnel ventilation fans rather than starting banks simultaneously
- Consolidate or retire idle meters to avoid stacking daily facilities charges
- Use Dixie's commercial underground-to-poultry-farm service standards when expanding houses
Retail, office, and small commercial
Small business accounts below the demand threshold pay simple volumetric rates, so efficiency and PCA awareness drive savings.
With billing composed of a daily facilities charge, energy charge, and a PCA that floats monthly like a fuel surcharge, the only controllable components are kWh consumed and the number of metered services. Accounts growing toward the demand threshold should plan for demand-billed economics.
- Track the monthly PCA on bills — it changes every month and can swing totals noticeably
- LED and HVAC upgrades return the full bundled per-kWh rate plus PCA
- Ask Dixie for a rate review if load grows; demand-billed schedules may price differently for high-load-factor accounts
Cost Optimization Strategies
Dixie Electric's bills stack a daily facilities charge, energy charge, monthly Power Cost Adjustment, and — for larger accounts — demand charges on monthly peak kW. As a board-rated Mississippi cooperative there are no TOU arbitrage or supplier-choice options; savings come from demand management, efficiency, meter consolidation, and capital credits.
Monthly peak demand reduction
For: Large commercial, industrial, and demand-billed agricultural accounts
Demand-billed commercial and industrial accounts pay for the single highest demand interval each month. Sequence equipment starts, add soft starters or VFDs on large motors, and use Dixie's AMI interval data to pinpoint when peaks occur — the cooperative's own FAQs walk members through demand reduction.
Power Cost Adjustment management
For: All member accounts
The PCA passes through wholesale power costs and changes monthly (e.g., $0.0051/kWh in Feb 2025). Total consumption reduction — lighting, HVAC, refrigeration, and ventilation efficiency — cuts both the base energy charge and the PCA on every kWh.
Facilities charge and meter consolidation
For: Multi-meter agricultural, poultry, and multi-site commercial members
Dixie bills facilities charges per day per meter ($0.99/day on residential; commercial varies). Multi-meter farms and campuses should audit services annually and disconnect or consolidate idle meters to stop paying fixed charges on unused services.
Right-sized transformation and metering
For: CT-metered commercial and industrial accounts
CT-metered commercial services should verify transformer capacity and CT ratios match actual load — oversized installations can inflate minimum charges, and incorrect multipliers cause billing errors. Request a meter test ahead of major load changes.
Capital credit capture
For: All members; businesses with ownership changes most at risk
As a member-owned cooperative, Dixie returns margins to members as capital credits over time. Keep ownership and mailing records current across all accounts — especially after business sales or farm transfers — so retirements are received rather than escheated.
To implement these strategies, you need your 15-minute interval data. Learn how to download Dixie Electric Power Association (Mississippi) interval data →
Frequently Asked Questions
Can C&I customers get interval data from Dixie Electric Power Association?▾
Possibly, but it's undocumented. DEPA has deployed AMI (its prepaid program shows real-time balance capability) and SmartHub shows usage information, but 15/30-minute interval availability isn't published. Check My Usage in SmartHub at dixieepa.smarthub.coop first, then call the Laurel office at (601) 425-2535 specifying the granularity you need.
Does DEPA support Green Button exports?▾
Not as advertised. DEPA runs NISC SmartHub, which typically supports Green Button Download My Data, but DEPA's site doesn't document the feature — unlike some other NISC cooperatives. Verify by looking for a Green Button link in SmartHub's My Usage section, or confirm with DEPA directly. Connect My Data (automated third-party access) is not available.
How does a consultant access a DEPA member's billing data?▾
Through a manual, customer-authorized request. Obtain written authorization with the account number, data types, time period, and purpose, then submit it to a DEPA office — Laurel (601) 425-2535, Petal (601) 583-1131, or Waynesboro (601) 735-2072 — with a written follow-up to P.O. Box 88, Laurel, MS 39441. There is no Share My Data portal or OAuth authorization system.
What does DEPA's MultiSpeak membership mean for integrations?▾
DEPA joined the MultiSpeak Consortium in April 2021 and uses the standard for interoperability across its accounting, CIS, outage, grid modeling, and meter data management systems. That's internal infrastructure — not a public API — but it signals technical readiness; B2B partners can inquire with DEPA's IT department about MultiSpeak-compliant integration.
What's the fastest near-real-time usage signal available at DEPA?▾
The prepaid billing program. Prepaid accounts get real-time balance checking through SmartHub and low-balance notifications by email, text, or phone — effectively a near-real-time consumption signal. Post-paid accounts see monthly bills plus whatever usage views SmartHub exposes.
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