January 2015
matters MEMBERSHIP
A MONTHLY NEWSLETTER FROM BLUE RIDGE ELECTRIC MEMBERSHIP CORPORATION
Temporary RATE
REDUCTION Members are receiving a rate reduction on January bills as approved by your Board of Directors. “We’re very pleased to be able to provide this savings to our members during a time of year when electricity use is highest due to winter heating needs, therefore resulting in higher bills.” said Chief Executive Officer Doug Johnson. As a not-for-profit cooperative, Blue Ridge Electric is able to provide the temporary rate reduction due to lower than projected wholesale power costs coupled with higher than expected electricity sales. Electricity use increased due to colder than normal weather in recent months. The reduction comes during a month when members typically use more electricity — and therefore see higher bills — due to their winter heating, lighting, hot water and other needs. Members will save $9 for each 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity used, which is the amount used by the average member. Overall, the rate reduction is estimated to save members a total of more than $1 million. “As a cooperative, we’re not in business to make a profit; we’re here to provide electricity at the lowest possible cost,” explained Johnson. “Our members use more electricity during winter months, so we’re very pleased to be able to provide a reduction at a time when it can lower bills the most and help our members.”
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the
perspective From Blue Ridge CEO Doug Johnson
Working to keep your bill low Keeping your bill as low as possible is an important cooperative goal for Blue Ridge Electric. That’s why I’m extremely pleased we’re able to reduce members’ bills in January through a temporary rate reduction. As a cooperative, our business model is to provide “at cost” service. That means providing you with electricity at the lowest possible cost. We do this in many different ways: from providing crisis heating assistance to offering free energy efficiency tools that help members reduce electricity use to lower their bills. We also offer innovative programs like FlexPay, our “pay-as-you-use” plan that has not only made paying for electricity easier for many members, it’s also helping members reduce usage — and costs — as they become more aware of their household patterns. I’m pleased that all members will benefit from the rate reduction. A combina-
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tion of factors allowed us to provide it. First, cold weather arrived early, causing members to use more electricity than normal this fall and secondly, wholesale power costs have been favorable. These factors enabled us to provide rate relief to each and every member. With our area’s severe winter weather, heating needs greatly impact winter bills. Members are also spending more time indoors during winter months, using more lighting, hot water, appliances and electronics. Usage increases even more over the holidays when members spend even more time at home, often with guests, celebrating the holidays. As a member-owned cooperative, we exist to provide value to our members. We hope you enjoy your savings! We’ll be working every day of the year to keep your bill low, keep your power flowing, and ensure your cooperative is there for you when you need us!
Rate relief at a glance Your January bill will reflect a rate reduction on your previous month’s usage. For every 1,000 kilowatt hours used, members will see a $9 savings. The typical member uses approximately 1,000 kilowatt hours monthly.
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Members Foundation 2014 grant recipients Alleghany County Solid Rock Food Closet
$10,000
To fund a summertime backpack program to help feed children who are high risk for hunger when school is out. An estimated 700 students are at risk in Alleghany County.
Piney Creek Dirty Fingers Garden Club
$5,000
To fund the construction of a picnic pavilion and enclosed storage area that will accommodate larger community events.
Shoes for Kids
$5,000
To restock and maintain shoe closets in five Ashe County schools that allows school guidance counselors to meet the immediate needs of students lacking properly fitted footwear.
Ashe Medication Assistance Program
$2,500
Funding to allow underinsured, unemployed and chronically ill diabetic patients to purchase supplies.
Ashe Services for Aging
$2,600
Funding to help facility become a certified music and memory facility to provide therapeutic benefits for Alzheimer’s and dementia patients.
Ashe County Sharing Center
$5,000
Funding to support a joint food pantry offering for Wilkes Community College and the Sharing Center.
Caldwell Co. Yokefellow, Inc.
$10,000
To support the capital campaign to complete, furnish and open LEO’s Place, a new homeless shelter serving Caldwell and surrounding counties.
Caldwell County Lions Activities
$1,000
To provide free eye glasses to low income individuals in Caldwell County.
Lenoir Soup Kitchen
$3,000
To upgrade equipment needed to serve the needy.
Yadkin Valley Community, Inc.
$1,000
To fund construction of free-standing handicap restroom facility for the Yadkin Greenway.
Ashe County
Caldwell County
American Legion Hudson Post 392 $1,500
To continue established programs provided by the American Legion including meals to the less fortunate, Veterans’ breakfasts and holiday programs for children.
Communities in Schools
$10,000*
To fund the annual “Reality Store” program that teach eighth-graders how to make good decisions now and how they will impact their future later. (*$8,500 will be conditional on agreement and plan to duplicate the “Reality Store” program in three additional counties.)
Turchin Center for Visual Arts
$2,400
To assist with funding an ASU/public schools art outreach program called “The Artist Within” to reach all third- and fourth-grade students in Watauga County and expose them to art and ASU.
F.A.R.M. Café
$3,000
The FARM Café provides meals to anyone under the “pay what you can” program. Funding will provide vouchers to patrons who can’t afford to pay or cannot work for their meals.
Blue Ridge National Heritage Area $2,500 Partnership
To support the area’s tourism industry by providing standardized hospitality and heritage training to local employees/employers.
Watauga County
Total
$64,500
Resolutions deadline The deadline for members to submit resolutions to be considered for presentation at the 2015 Annual Meeting is February 27. Resolutions should be addressed to Doug Johnson, PO Box 112, Lenoir, NC, 28645. Proposed resolutions should clearly state their relevance to the cooperative’s mission, objectives and operations as well as how they relate to the cooperative’s membership.
the Resolutions Policy. At the Board’s regular March meeting, the committee will make recommendations for any resolutions to the Board. Resolutions approved by the Resolutions Committee and the Board of Directors will be provided to members for consideration and vote. The Resolutions Committee is composed of chairpersons of the cooperative’s district Member Advisory Committees and members of the Board of Directors’ Policy and Member Relations Committee.
A Resolutions Committee will review submissions for their compliance with
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Vegetation management helps ensure reliable, safe electricity Severe weather that involves ice, wind and lightning, which can result in damage to trees and power lines is the major cause of outages. With more than 8,000 miles of power lines to protect, your electric cooperative works year-round on our vegetation management program to ensure members enjoy the most
work safely to build and maintain the power system to ensure you receive reliable electricity. The majority of our system is made up of distribution lines, which carry power from substations to homes and businesses. The right-of-way for this type of line is a total of 30 feet (15 feet on each side). Blue Ridge Electric is a
Tree contact with power lines is the single leading cause of outages . . .
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Doug Johnson
EDITOR Renée R. Whitener
PRODUCTION SUPERVISOR Susan Simmons
DISTRICT OFFICES Caldwell Watauga Ashe Alleghany Wilkes PowerLine®
(828) 754-9071 (828) 264-8894 (336) 846-7138 (336) 372-4646 (800) 451-5474 (800) 448-2383
Toll Free
(800) 451-5474
(PowerLine® is an automated account information and outage reporting system.)
(for members outside of the service area.)
To report an outage at any time, call one of the number listed above. OFFICE HOURS: 8:30 am - 5:00 pm, Monday-Friday Night deposit available. Visit us on the web: BlueRidgeEMC.com
This institution is an equal opportunity provider and employer. Page 20
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reliable electricity possible. This effort has also placed Blue Ridge among the best performing utilities in the nation for reliability. Vegetation management occurs in our rights-of way. What is a right-ofway? It’s a corridor or strip of land along either side of power lines that allows our linemen to
unique cooperative in that we must also build and maintain our own transmission system. These high voltage power lines deliver electricity from our supplier in the foothills to reach our mountain district members. The right-of-way for these lines ranges from a total of 100 to 250 feet, depending on the voltage of the line.
Many people don’t know that power lines carrying electricity can energize anything or anyone that gets too close to the line, including a tree or tree limb, ladder, or even a wet kite string. Maintained rights-of-way help ensure that trees don’t get close enough to power lines to energize them, and while this helps keep electricity reliable, it also helps keep people and even animals from being electrocuted or severely injured. Our vegetation management program combines several methods to control growth — all with the goal of balancing the beauty of our area while ensuring safe, reliable electricity. In next month’s newsletter, we’ll discuss these innovative methods and how this approach benefits members.
Shop local and save with your Co-op Connections® Card Your Co-op Connections® Card carrying privileges, benefits, rewards and discounts don’t have to end with the end of the holiday season. Use your card throughout the year and support your local Co-op Connections businesses. Also, be sure to check out the hundreds of national businesses who participate in the program. For more information or a complete list of participating businesses, go to BlueRidgeEMC.com/ coop-connections-card. Note: If you’ve misplaced your card, drop by any district office or give us a call. We’ll be happy to mail one to you.
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