French Broad Electric Membership Corporation Rate Selection Guide
French Broad Electric Membership Corporation (FBEMC) is a rural electric cooperative serving roughly 41,000 members across Western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee from its Marshall, NC headquarters. C&I customers get billing and daily usage data through the Online Billing Center and mobile app, but the co-op publishes no Green Button, API, or EDI programs — third-party access runs through manual written-authorization requests.
Market Overview
Member-owned cooperative serving Western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee with autonomy over its own data and rate policies; no retail choice. FBEMC participates in PURPA-required public comment periods on demand response and EV charging programs.
Need to pull your actual usage data to compare rates? See the French Broad Electric Membership Corporation Data Access Guide →
Current Rate Schedules
French Broad EMC (FBEMC) is a member-owned cooperative serving western North Carolina (Madison, Yancey, Mitchell, and Buncombe counties) and a slice of Unicoi County, Tennessee. Business rates split into Small Commercial (energy-only with a declining block at 3,000 kWh) and Large Power (demand-billed, with separate tiers for 50-1,000 kW and over 1,000 kW, plus hours-use energy blocks). Riders for NC renewable energy recovery and the NC energy efficiency program (currently a credit for business classes) apply monthly. The complete Rate Schedule Book is published on FBEMC's site.
Effective: October 1, 2024 · Full Tariff Book →
| Schedule | Type | Applicability | Structure | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small Commercial Service | commercial | Small businesses without significant demand; single- or three-phase service | Basic facilities charge $35/month (single-phase) or $60/month (three-phase) + energy: first 3,000 kWh at 11.2¢/kWh, over 3,000 kWh at 9.0¢/kWh; NC renewable recovery fee $2.98/month and energy efficiency rider credit of $4.55/month. | 9.0-11.2¢/kWh |
| Large Power — 50 to 1,000 kW | commercial | Businesses with peak demand between 50 and 1,000 kW | Basic facilities charge $60/month + demand charge $12.60/kW + energy at 7.1¢/kWh up to 400 hours-use of demand, 6.6¢/kWh thereafter; renewable recovery fee $19.82/month, efficiency rider -$4.55/month. | 6.6-7.1¢/kWh+ $12.60/kW |
| Large Power — Over 1,000 kW (Extra Large Industrial) | industrial | Industrial facilities with peak demand above 1,000 kW | Basic facilities charge $250/month + demand charge $13.20/kW + energy at 6.3¢/kWh up to 475 hours-use, 5.7¢/kWh thereafter. | 5.7-6.3¢/kWh+ $13.20/kW |
| Commercial Generation (Sell Excess) | commercial | Commercial members with grid-tied solar or other distributed generation | Basic facilities charge $30/month (single-phase) or $40/month (three-phase); excess generation credited at 4.4¢/kWh (avoided-cost rate). | 4.4¢/kWh generation credit |
Rate Recommendations by Use Case
Retail shop, restaurant, or small lodge in Madison/Yancey County
Small businesses with monthly usage in the low thousands of kWh and no large motor loads.
Energy-only billing with no demand charge keeps bills predictable; the declining block (9.0¢ over 3,000 kWh) modestly rewards higher usage. The NC efficiency rider is a credit for commercial classes, slightly offsetting fixed fees.
- Choose single-phase service where equipment allows — the facilities charge is $25/month lower
- Track whether usage regularly exceeds 3,000 kWh to forecast the blended rate
- TN accounts: note Small Commercial carries 9.75% utility tax vs. 1.5% for Large Power
Manufacturing or processing facility with 50-1,000 kW demand
Wood products, food processing, and light manufacturing operations common in FBEMC's territory.
At $12.60/kW, the demand charge is the dominant controllable cost; the hours-use energy blocks (7.1¢ up to 400 hours, 6.6¢ after) reward high load factor, so flat, continuous operation bills out cheaper per kWh than peaky operation.
- Stagger compressor and motor starts to avoid setting a new monthly kW peak
- Run load factor monthly: billed kWh ÷ (peak kW × hours) — above ~55% you reach the cheaper energy block
- Ask FBEMC for your demand history before adding equipment; one bad peak sets the bill for the month
Large industrial plant above 1,000 kW
The largest industrial members, billed on the Extra Large Industrial tier.
Energy drops to 5.7-6.3¢/kWh — among the cheapest in western NC — but the $13.20/kW demand charge and 475 hours-use threshold make peak shaving and load factor the entire optimization game.
- Sub-meter major process lines to attribute demand peaks to specific equipment
- Evaluate on-site thermal storage or batch rescheduling to flatten the daily profile
- Coordinate planned maintenance shutdowns to avoid partial-month demand ratchets — confirm ratchet terms in the Rate Schedule Book
Commercial solar host
Businesses adding rooftop or ground-mount solar under FBEMC's Sell Excess program.
Excess generation credits at 4.4¢/kWh — well below the 9.0-11.2¢ retail rate — so systems should be sized for self-consumption rather than export.
- Size the array to your daytime base load, not annual usage
- Pair with load shifting (water heating, pre-cooling) to absorb midday production on-site
- Demand-billed accounts: solar rarely reduces billed kW reliably — don't count on demand savings
Cost Optimization Strategies
FBEMC is a small distribution cooperative without TOU rates, competitive supply, or formal demand response — so optimization is operational: demand control on Large Power, load factor improvement against the hours-use blocks, correct phase/class selection, and right-sized solar. Rates are member-set and among the lower in the region, leaving demand charges as the main lever.
Demand peak control
For: Large Power accounts (50 kW and above)
Large Power accounts pay $12.60-$13.20 per kW of monthly peak. Interlock large loads, soft-start motors, and sequence HVAC to keep the single worst interval down.
Load factor optimization against hours-use blocks
For: Large Power accounts with shiftable production
Energy price drops once monthly kWh exceeds 400 (or 475) hours times billed demand. Flattening the operating profile pushes more kWh into the cheaper block and lowers the blended rate.
Service class and phase verification
For: All business accounts, especially those growing past 50 kW
Confirm single- vs. three-phase facilities charges match actual service, and review whether a growing Small Commercial account approaching 50 kW would bill cheaper on Large Power given its load factor. TN accounts should verify the correct utility tax class.
Self-consumption-sized solar
For: Commercial members with suitable roof/land
With export credited at only 4.4¢/kWh, solar economics depend on offsetting 9-11¢ retail energy. Size systems to daytime base load and shift discretionary loads into solar hours.
Efficiency upgrades at full retail value
For: All commercial and industrial members
Without TOU pricing, every kWh saved is worth the full retail rate. LED retrofits, heat pump conversions, and compressed-air leak repair pay back directly; the NC efficiency rider already credits business bills.
To implement these strategies, you need your 15-minute interval data. Learn how to download French Broad Electric Membership Corporation interval data →
Frequently Asked Questions
How do commercial customers download billing data from French Broad EMC?▾
Register at the FBEMC Online Billing Center (frenchbroademc.com/index.php/billing/) with your account number. The portal provides current and past bills as PDFs plus daily and monthly usage graphs. There is no bulk CSV/XML export — download each billing period's PDF and compile usage manually for analysis.
Does FBEMC offer 15-minute interval data for energy analysis?▾
Not as a published product. The portal shows daily and monthly aggregates only, and 15-minute or hourly downloads are not advertised. Call 828.649.2051 or email fbemc@frenchbroademc.com to ask whether interval data exists for your meter; expect daily aggregates as the most likely outcome. For sub-hourly visibility, an independent metering device is the practical alternative.
Can an energy consultant or aggregator access FBEMC data on a customer's behalf?▾
Only through a manual process. FBEMC has no Share My Data portal, API, or aggregator partnerships. The customer signs a written authorization, the third party submits it to FBEMC with the account number and use case, and FBEMC reviews under its privacy policies — typically delivering PDF bill copies or usage summaries within 1-2 weeks, at its discretion.
Does FBEMC support Green Button or EDI?▾
No. There is no Green Button Download My Data or Connect My Data implementation, no ESPI endpoint, and no documented EDI program (no trading partner enrollment, ANSI X12 specs, or VAN connections). FBEMC is a small cooperative without the infrastructure larger utilities maintain for these standards.
What does Nectar's roadmap support level mean for FBEMC accounts?▾
FBEMC is on Nectar's roadmap: automated ingestion is planned but not yet productized. Today, Nectar works with FBEMC data via customer-downloaded bill PDFs from the Online Billing Center or LOA-based manual requests to the cooperative while native support is built.
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