Pedernales Electric Cooperative: What Texas Members Should Know in 2026

A rancher outside Dripping Springs flips on the barn lights at 5 a.m. and gives zero thought to which company sends the power. For most of his neighbors, that company has been the same one for decades: Pedernales Electric Cooperative.

Pedernales Electric Cooperative, commonly called PEC or the Pedernales coop, is a nonprofit, member-owned electric utility headquartered in Johnson City, Texas. Founded in 1938 with help from the Rural Electrification Administration, it was built to bring power to rural areas that investor-owned utilities considered unprofitable to serve. Today it is one of the largest electric cooperatives in the United States by number of members, with service reaching across a broad stretch of the Texas Hill Country and surrounding counties.

Because PEC is a cooperative, its members are also its owners. That structure shapes everything from how rates are set to how surpluses (called capital credits) are returned to members over time.

PEC's service territory covers a large footprint west and southwest of Austin. Its core coverage includes parts of Travis, Hays, Blanco, Gillespie, Llano, Mason, San Saba, Burnet, and several additional counties. Communities that fall at least partly within PEC territory include Dripping Springs, Marble Falls, Fredericksburg, Llano, Kerrville (portions), Wimberley, Horseshoe Bay, and many unincorporated rural areas throughout the Hill Country.

If you are not certain whether your address falls inside PEC territory, the cooperative's website allows address lookups. It is worth checking before assuming, because the Hill Country has several utilities operating in overlapping areas, including other cooperatives and some municipal utilities.

This is the question that trips up newcomers to the Hill Country most often. Texas deregulated most of its electricity market starting in 2002, opening competition among Retail Electric Providers (REPs) for customers served by investor-owned transmission and distribution utilities such as Oncor, CenterPoint, AEP Texas, and TNMP. Those customers can shop plans on powertochoose.org and compare hundreds of offers.

PEC members cannot do that. Electric cooperatives and municipal utilities in Texas were allowed to opt into deregulation but were not required to. Pedernales Electric chose to remain outside the competitive market. That means PEC both delivers the power and charges members for electricity generation, bundled together. There is no separate REP selling you a plan, and no Electricity Facts Label (EFL) in the PUCT deregulated format.

In practice, this means PEC members get their bill from one source, compare rates only against what PEC offers, and do not have access to the fixed-rate, variable-rate, or indexed-rate plan variety available in deregulated zones. For a broader look at how competitive Texas electricity works, see our Texas electricity guide.

PEC rates are not set by the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT). Because PEC is a cooperative, its rates are established by an elected board of directors, not a state regulatory commission. Members vote for board representatives from their district, which is the primary accountability mechanism.

Rate changes at PEC go through an internal review process. The cooperative must balance the cost of purchasing wholesale power (PEC buys power rather than owns generation plants), maintaining and expanding its distribution system across thousands of miles of lines in rugged terrain, and keeping finances stable enough to maintain bond ratings.

PEC also participates in the ERCOT grid as a load-serving entity. That means the wholesale power prices that affect the entire Texas market, including the extreme volatility seen during weather events, do flow through to PEC's cost structure over time, even if members do not see real-time pricing on their bills.

For current rate schedules, members should go directly to PEC's official website or call the cooperative. ElectricRates.org focuses on rates in the competitive Texas market; for PEC-specific tariff documents, the cooperative is the authoritative source.

One of the genuine financial advantages of being a cooperative member is the capital credit system. When PEC collects more revenue than it spends in a given year, that surplus is allocated to members as capital credits, proportional to how much electricity each member purchased that year.

PEC periodically retires (pays out) a portion of these accumulated credits to members. The timing and amount of retirement depend on the cooperative's financial position and board decisions. Over a long membership, capital credits can add up to a meaningful sum, though the payout schedule varies and the credits are not immediate cash.

New residents moving into PEC territory from a deregulated city sometimes ask if they are missing out by not being able to shop rates. Capital credits are part of the cooperative's answer to that question. They are also a reason why transferring service or leaving the territory does not immediately erase the value accumulated during membership.

PEC offers more than a single flat rate. The cooperative has developed several programs to give members some flexibility and to encourage efficiency. Common offerings have included time-of-use rate options that reward members who shift high-consumption tasks such as running dishwashers or charging vehicles to off-peak hours, as well as a renewable energy participation program for members who want a portion of their power sourced from wind or solar.

PEC has also run energy efficiency rebate programs covering items such as smart thermostats, insulation improvements, and high-efficiency HVAC equipment. These rebates change periodically as funding allows.

For members interested in rooftop solar, PEC has an interconnection process and net metering policy. The details of how excess generation is credited back to the member are set by PEC's tariff, not by PUCT competitive rules, so it is worth reviewing the cooperative's current policy before sizing a solar installation.

All of these programs are managed directly by PEC. Members should visit the cooperative's website or speak with member services to confirm what is currently available, since program availability and rebate amounts change over time.

A direct apples-to-apples comparison is harder than it looks. In the competitive Texas market, as of August 2026, the lowest all-in advertised rate in the Oncor territory around Dallas runs about 6.8 cents per kilowatt-hour, with a median all-in rate of roughly 15.9 cents per kilowatt-hour across active plans. Those figures come from comparing plans at 1,000 kWh per month on ElectricRates.org.

PEC's rates are structured differently and serve a territory with a very different cost profile. Delivering electricity across hundreds of miles of rural Hill Country lines, where the cost per customer is higher than in dense suburban areas, is inherently more expensive than serving a dense urban grid. On the other hand, PEC does not have to fund REP marketing budgets or shareholder returns.

Because ElectricRates.org tracks competitive REP offers rather than cooperative tariffs, and because PEC's rates change on their own schedule, the most accurate comparison a PEC member can make is to pull PEC's current tariff directly from the cooperative and compare it to what a comparable usage level would cost in a competitive zone. For competitive Texas electricity rates, ElectricRates.org shows live data.

PEC serves a territory that includes significant wildfire risk, frequent ice storm exposure in winter, and the logistical challenge of restoring power to customers spread across remote terrain. The cooperative has invested heavily in its distribution system over the years, including automated switching equipment that can reroute power around faults without requiring a truck to roll.

For outage reporting, PEC operates an outage map on its website and accepts reports through its member app and phone line. During major events such as winter storms, restoration priority is generally given to critical facilities and backbone transmission lines first, then works outward to individual service drops.

Members on medically necessary equipment should register with PEC under its life support or critical care program. This does not guarantee uninterrupted power but ensures PEC has the information needed to prioritize restoration and contact the member during extended outages.

Starting service with PEC requires contacting the cooperative directly. Unlike deregulated Texas, where you sign up through a REP of your choice online in minutes, PEC service begins through the cooperative's own member services process. New members typically pay a membership fee (a small one-time amount that represents ownership in the cooperative) in addition to any deposit that may be required.

To confirm your address is in PEC territory, use the address lookup tool on PEC's website before initiating the process. If your new home is in a boundary area, it is possible a different utility serves the address.

Existing members who are moving within PEC territory can transfer service rather than closing and reopening an account. Final bills, capital credit records, and membership status all follow the member through the process.

For questions about eligibility, deposit requirements, or current rates, PEC's member services team is the right contact. The PUCT and powertochoose.org are resources for competitive REP service, not for cooperative members.