LIGHT READING INLAND POWER AND LIGHT inlandpower.com
You’re Not Alone in the Dark Electricity powers our lives. We depend on it for nearly everything we do. So we understand how frustrating it can be when any of our members are left in the dark.
DECEMBER 2017
Powering Up After an Outage When the power goes out, we immediately go to work to get it restored quickly. However, during a major storm or natural disaster that brings widespread damage, extended outages may result. All our employees work long, hard hours to restore service safely to the greatest number of members in the shortest time possible. Here is what is going on if you find yourself in the dark:
Power outages are never convenient. It takes a lot of hands to keep your power on, and even more hands to get it up and running when an outage occurs. Inland Power works hard to restore your electric service when outages occur, but there are necessary steps to take to ensure that power is restored to the majority of members as quickly, and safely, as possible. After a major storm, Inland Power employees must identify which towers, poles and lines have incurred damage. Very rarely, but occasionally in the case of a major wind or snow storm high voltage transmission towers/lines can be damaged. If that is the case, tens of thousands of members could be affected. Repairing damage to transmission lines is top priority when it comes to restoring power. High voltage transmission lines feed power to Inland Power’s 52 distribution substations. These substations serve thousands of members. If there is no damage done to transmission towers, the local distribution substations are checked next. If the issue is isolated and can be resolved at the substation level, that means thousands of people can get their power restored at once. At times, the issue cannot be isolated to one of our distribution substations. If that is the case, Inland Power crews inspect distribution lines between the substations and the meters they serve. If the distribution lines can be repaired, power can be restored to the homes those lines serve, as long as there is no damage to the tap lines. Tap lines carry power to the transformers located underground or connected to poles outside of homes and other buildings. Inland Power crews identify which damaged lines to work on first based on which lines will restore power to the greatest number of members. Many times, the issue is resolved once the tap lines are repaired. But have you ever lost power only to look next door and see the lights still blazing from your neighbor’s window? When this happens, it generally means that the service line between your home and the nearby transformer has been damaged. If this happens, call Inland Power right away to ensure that we are aware of your single outage and we will send a crew to restore your power. Power restoration can be an intricate process, so if you ever lose service in your home or neighborhood please remember the
following: • Stay clear of downed power lines. Contact with these lines could be life threatening. • Report the outage to Inland Power as soon as possible. • Make sure to inform us if the loss of power to your home affects life support systems or could cause any additional threat to health and safety. We appreciate your patience and cooperation whenever an outage occurs. If you are experiencing an outage, please visit Inland Power’s outage website or your SmartHub account for real-time outage updates regarding outage causes and estimated times of restoration.
i nland powe r is my coope rat ive
CAPITAL CREDITS
WE ARE A MEMBER-OWNED ENERGY COOPERATIVE COMMITTED TO SAFE, RELIABLE SERVICE AT COMPETITIVE RATES. - i n l a n d p o w e r m i s s i o n stat e m e n t
Board Approves $1.5 Million Refund to Inland Power Members
ENERGY EFFICIENCY T O D D A N D L I N D S E Y, YO U R E N E R G Y E F F I C I E N C Y T E A M
Energy Efficiency 101:
We know you work hard for your money - so we work hard to keep your electric rates among the lowest in the country and to provide great service. One of the many benefits of belonging to a nonprofit electric cooperative like Inland Power is that you are an owner. Every time you purchase power, you build equity or ownership in your energy cooperative. The amount of equity you earn is determined by net margins – the amount of revenue collected in excess of expenses for each year. These net margins are returned to you in the form of capital credit checks.
What is a Smart Home?
By Todd Williams and Lindsey Hobbs A “Smart Home” is commonly used to define a residence where appliances, lighting, heating, cooling, computers, entertainment centers and security systems can communicate with each other and are controlled remotely from any location by phone, tablet or smart speaker. Installation of smart products have appealing benefits such as saving time, and the ability to monitor energy usage which saves money and provides increased convenience.
Inland Power is pleased to announce that for the 38th year we will be giving cash back to our members. The board of trustees of Inland Power has approved refunding $1,500,000 in capital credits to our membership and checks will be sent to you this December. We appreciate your business and look forward to serving you in the years to come. We wish you a safe, healthy and joyous holiday season.
The best smart home devices are bringing traditional “dumb” homes into the future while newly constructed homes are incorporating features into their design as a standard feature (e.g. electric vehicle chargers in the garage). Inland Power would like to help our members add smart features to your homes and are pleased to offer rebates and incentives on a few “smart” products. Items such as: • Smart Thermostats • Heat Pump Water Heaters • Level 2 Electric Vehicle Chargers This is the fifth and final article in a five-part series. Check back next month for more educational tidbits on conservation ideas and suggestions. If you have an energy related topic you would like to learn more about, we would love to hear from you! To contact Todd or Lindsey, call (509) 789-1801 or email conservation@inlandpower.com.
Inland Power Continues Extended Office Hours
OFFICE HOURS
After a six month trial period Inland Power is continuing our extended office hours of 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday. With multiple requests from members to change our hours to accommodate work schedules, we are able to make home appointments earlier/later in the day and answer member questions before and after standard work hours with our new hours. In addition, our crews are able to take advantage of longer hours to complete maintenance work out in the field. As always, Inland Power employees will be available to respond to any unplanned outage outside of our core business hours.
VISIT INLANDPOWER.COM FOR MORE ENERGY EFFICIENCY TIPS
INLAND POWER GETTING ELECTRIC GRID READY FOR WINTER Inland Power has spent much of the past year getting ready for the winter season. It is an ongoing effort that ranges from addressing our aging infrastructure to right-of-way clearing.
becomes wet in the rainy season. Electricity moves through the wet and dirty substance, which is very conductive, causing arcing, which causes them to fail.
Trees weighted down by snow and ice or hit with a strong wind can cause limbs or entire trees to fall onto power lines and cause outages. “Over the course of this year, our crews have cleared 1,325 miles of right-of-way to get ready for winter. While we can’t predict what the winter will bring, we feel that we have been as proactive as possible for the upcoming season,” said Glen Best, chief operating officer for Inland Power.
In addition, we tested 9,000 poles this year which resulted in a 5.88 percent failure rate. The failed poles have been identified and crews have been replacing these poles throughout the year.
Throughout the year, crews have been performing maintenance and have been focusing on replacing insulators and fuses. Insulators can fail whenever dirt and dust collects in the dry season and 10110 W HALLETT ROAD
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SPOKANE, WA 99224
“Aging infrastructure is one of the leading cause of outages on our system. We have an annual maintenance program that targets faulty equipment, which is replaced as soon as possible to increase our reliability for our membership,” said Best. Inland Power evaluates its system continuously to serve you as efficiently and reliably as possible. Thank you for being a valued member.
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