FEBRUARY 2013
This is the second of a series of articles discussing our right-of-way and vegetation management program.
Vegetation management work helps keep the lights on Keeping the lights on, homes heated and powering the daily needs of our members is a job we take seriously at Blue Ridge Electric. Several years ago we implemented a more thorough, innovative vegetation management program for your right-of-way that’s overseen by a certified arborist. As a result, the number of outages on our system has been cut in half and we’re now among the best performing utilities in the nation in the area of reliability. Even though power is on 99 percent of the time for our members, we’re setting even higher goals to help us keep focused on the most important service aspect you desire from your electricity provider. Our program combines several methods to control vegetation growth — all with the goal of balancing the beauty of our area with providing safe, reliable electricity. The process begins at each designated substation. Our crews are looking for the following threats to reliable electricity: foliage growing underneath power lines, overhanging branches and dead or diseased trees that could pull down a power line if they fall. As needed for each situation, we hand trim, mow, side trim or use a tall mechanical trimmer to remove foliage that endangers power lines. Just as we have a responsibility to provide reliable electricity, we also must control costs for the membership as part of vegetation management program. This means that while we’re diligent about leaving landscaped areas such as yards and pastures as we found them, we contain removal costs in rough terrain and areas not normally mowed or maintained by members by leaving vegetation debris that will be naturally biodegradable in these rights of way. A key to our improved reliability over the years has been moving to a six-year cycle. In other words, every inch of our 8,000 miles of power lines is reviewed and trimmed if needed at least once every six years. This helps avoid large growth that’s more likely to cause outages and is also more costly to contain. Following any necessary trimming is another key part of our plan: environmentally safe herbicide treatment. In the next article in this series, we’ll discuss this phase as well as how members are contacted before each segment of vegetation management work begins. Carolina Country February 2013 21
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While the cooperative covers administrative costs and coordination of the Foundation, it is our members contributing to our Operation Round Up® programs that make these “members helping members” programs so successful and provides the majority of funding that makes it possible to help so many. And the local spirit of generosity and pride in taking care of our own has never been more evident. A record number of members are participating in Operation Round Up and because of this, the Foundation is able to help more members in need. Over $125,000 was awarded in 2012 to more than 1,100 members identified by local helping agencies as individuals most in need of crisis assistance. Since the Foundation was formed in 2007, more than 5,500 families have received assistance worth over $980,000 to help with electric bills and 123 different grants totaling $451,634 have funded community improvement programs and services. With an economy still struggling to recover, local helping agencies and funding sources are challenged to fill the need for crisis
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As a cooperative, our members are always our top priority. A key way we’re demonstrating care to those we serve is through the Blue Ridge Electric Members Foundation and the support it’s providing to our members for crisis heating assistance and funding for grants that provide services to improve the quality of life in our area.
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Operation Round Up: Members Helping Members
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Offi heating assistance and other procer Doug Johnson grams. That’s why I want to personally thank all of our members who are participating in Operation Round Up. More than 23,000 of you are rounding up a few cents each month and a growing number are contributing even more through Operation Round Up® Plus. For an average of 50 cents a month, you can join thouI’m proud to say employees are also giving sands of other Blue Ridge to Operation Round Up and your cooperamembers making a difference tive is using profits from your heating fuels subsidiary, Blue Ridge Energies, to make by contributing to Operation annual donations of $25,000. Round Up®.
Give a little. Help a lot!
It’s important to note that 100 percent of donations go directly to crisis assistance and grant funding. And it’s our members who make the decisions: the Foundation’s advisory committee is made up entirely of volunteer cooperative members who review grant applications and make funding recommendations to the Foundation’s board of directors for final approval. Again, I want to thank each and every member who is contributing to Operation Round Up. Your caring makes a difference! Through the power of cooperation, the Blue Ridge Electric Members Foundation and Operation Round Up programs are filling needs that may otherwise go unmet for our friends and neighbors. This spirit of members helping members not only benefits our communities right now, it’s also creating a legacy to build on for years to come for a brighter future for our local communities and members in northwest North Carolina.
Or, if you’d like to give more, you can contribute any amount you choose by joining Operation Round Up® Plus! To sign up today, call your local Blue Ridge Electric office or visit www.BlueRidgeEMC. com. There’s no greater joy than knowing you gave someone in your own community a helping hand when they needed it most!
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More News Members Foundation Fall grant recipients
Alleghany County
Alleghany Memorial Hospital $22,000 (Impact Grant)
Develop and expand the Pulmonary Rehab Program (renovation of the current physical therapy building) to include a gym area for use by physical and respiratory therapists
Solid Rock Closet
$4,000
Provide a food pantry to those in need in Alleghany County
$2,500
”1000 Books before Kindergarten” program funding to continue program and purchase new collection of bilingual books and audio books for children
Ashe County
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Ashe Public Library
cents houRidge ence ation
Caldwell County
Ashe County Sharing Center $5,000
more, any ining us!
Provide food, clothing, and blankets for Ashe County
Robin’s Nest - Children’s $4,000 Advocacy Center of Caldwell
Provide specialized pediatric medical evaluations for child abuse victims
Wig Bank of Caldwell County $7,145
“Step Up” kits that include items needed during treatment and survival of cancer for children with cancer
Helping Hands Clinic
$4,000
“Evening Urgent Care Clinic”: provides uninsured adults an affordable health care alternative to the emergency room
Caldwell County Schools (Impact Grant)
$21,000
Construction of a ropes course designed to help students embrace science, technology, engineering and math
Community Care Clinic
$5,000
Provide health care and medication services to uninsured Watauga County residents
High Country Women’s Fund
$2,500
Provide transportation, caring for children, education, housing, personal needs and prevention
Casting Bread Food Pantry
$5,000
To provide a food pantry to families or individuals who meet the income criteria for food assistance
$2,500
To provide less fortunate children of the High Country with clothing, school supplies, personal items, books and toys for Christmas
Watauga County
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Multiple County Projects
Eagle Rock Ministries, Inc.
Key dates reminder: director nominees, resolutions Members wishing to be considered as a director nominee to serve on the cooperative’s board of directors have two options: the Nominating Committee process or the nomination by petition process. First, members must complete and submit a director application packet available by contacting Julie O’Dell-Michie, chief administrative officer, at jmichie@blueridgeemc. com or at 800-451-5474, extension 3202. This form is due by Friday, March 1, when going through the Nominating Committee process and by Monday, April 1, for those seeking nomination by petition. Additionally, nominations by petition must be accompanied by the signatures of 15 or more members, with each signing his or her name as it
appears on their electric service bill. The deadline for nominations by petition is Monday, April 1, at 5 p.m. Resolutions: Members with resolutions to be considered for presentation at the 2013 Annual Meeting should submit them by February 22 to Doug Johnson, chief executive officer, PO Box 112, Lenoir, NC, 28645. For a complete list of qualifications to serve as a director of Blue Ridge Electric, or for full details regarding resolutions, please refer to the cooperative’s Bylaws available at any Blue Ridge Electric office or online at www.BlueRidgeEMC.com.
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Members Only NEWS
~For Members of Blue Ridge Electric
Scholarships available CORPORATE OFFICE PO Box 112 • Lenoir, NC 28645
As part of our support of local communities, Blue Ridge Electric annually awards scholarships and youth leadership opportunities to high school seniors and adults returning to college who live in the cooperative’s service territory.
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Doug Johnson
This year, scholarships worth $14,800 will be awarded based on financial need, community activity, school performance and activities, and personal interviews.
EDITOR Renée R. Whitener
For high school seniors seeking a bachelor’s degree, five $2,000 Blue Ridge Electric scholarships are available; and for residents seeking a two-year degree, five $800 Blue Ridge Electric technical/vocational scholarships are available. An additional $800 Charles and Lucille Suddreth scholarship is available to a Caldwell County resident seeking a two-year degree. Scholarship applications are due by March 31.
PRODUCTION SUPERVISOR Susan Simmons DISTRICT OFFICES Caldwell (828) 754-9071 Watauga (828) 264-8894 Ashe (336) 846-7138 Alleghany (336) 372-4646 Wilkes (800) 451-5474 (800) 448-2383 PowerLine® (PowerLine® is an automated account information and outage reporting system.)
The Washington Youth Tour is an educational week-long trip to Washington, D.C., held in the summer and may be awarded for up to four rising seniors in the cooperative’s service area. Winners will meet and talk with Congressional leaders, visit historic sites, and learn about the cooperative way of doing business. They are also eligible for college scholarships. Applications are due March 15.
Toll Free 1 (800) 451-5474 (for members outside the service area)
Seven students may also be selected to attend the summer Broyhill Leadership Conference at Queens College in Charlotte. The five-day conference is open to 10th-through 12th-grade students nominated by their guidance counselor. The conference helps students understand goal setting, motivational techniques, group dynamics, communication, and cooperation.
To report an outage at any time, call one of the numbers listed above.
Applications are available from high school guidance counselors, local community colleges or online at BlueRidgeEMC.com under “In the Community.”
OFFICE HOURS 8:30 am - 5:00 pm, Monday - Friday Night deposit available. Visit us on the Web: www.BlueRidgeEMC.com
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Everyone loves a roaring fire on a cold winter night; however, a conventional fireplace is in reality an energy hole — not a spaceheating device — since almost all of the air that it heats escapes out through the chimney. Fireplaces also allow heat to escape when not in use. To save energy, get an insulating flue plug, an inflatable urethane pillow that stops the draft up your chimney. (Just remember to remove the plug before starting your next fire!) Source: Green Living Ideas
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