Light Reading - October 2019

Inland Power is my cooperative!

The power Inland provides is: 86.47%

HYDRO

10.75%

NUCLEAR

2.77%

MARKET*

.01%

NATURAL GAS

October 2019

-------------------------------------------------

LightReading

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

HYDRO

inlandpower.com

*Power not purchased from the Bonneville Power Administration is purchased on the wholesale energy market.

getin touch

10110 W Hallett Rd. Spokane, WA 99224 MAIN OFFICE

(509) 747-7151 TOLL FREE

(800) 747-7151 BILLING QUESTIONS

(509) 789-4277 PAYMENT SERVICES

(855) 386-9903 ENERGY CONSERVATION AND REBATES

(509) 789-1801 EMAIL

inlandpower@inlandpower.com SOCIAL

@inlandpower

NUCLEAR

inside...

SAFETY

Generator Safety

NATURAL GAS

YOUR COOPERATIVE

MARKET

Inland Power’s 2018 Fuel Mix

2018 Inland Power & Light Fuel Mix

EFFICIENCY Is your home weather ready?

Leading the way to a carbon-free future

T

his year brought a lot of attention to the utility industry in Washington state. When Governor Inslee announced his bid for president, he pledged climate change would be the focus of his platform.

While Inslee has since dropped out of the presidential race, his commitment to making Washington the cleanest state in the country is still undeterred.

For Inland Power, providing clean energy is a way of life. In 2018, Inland Power purchased the majority of its power from BPA for resale and distribution to our members. The majority of that power is generated from the hydroelectric dams along the Columbia and Snake Rivers.

We are very fortunate to live in the Pacific Northwest and have access to this clean, efficient source of power.

In 2006, Washington voters passed the Energy Independence Act, which requires electric utilities that serve 25,000 customers or more to obtain a certain percentage of the electricity used from eligible renewable resources, including

solar, wind and hydropower.

The percentage of required renewable generation started at 3 percent in 2012 and climbs to 15 percent in 2020.

This year, Washington legislators passed the Clean Energy Transformation Act, this act requires utilities to provide power that is 100 percent carbon-free by 2045.

Utilities that provide power generated from resources like coal and natural gas have a long way to go to reach the governor’s clean energy goal.

At Inland Power, the energy we provide to our members is 90 percent renewable and 98.5 percent carbon-free. Needless to say, your cooperative is well on its way to meeting the governor’s challenge.

When outages strike Living in the Pacific Northwest certainly has its advantages. Our landscape is extremely diverse and offers outdoor enthusiasts a wide variety of activities.

Our sunsets are some of the prettiest in the world. We get to experience all four seasons and what each has to offer. Yet, with each season, comes certain drawbacks.

Our summers can get quite warm and dry, igniting wildfires and reducing our air quality with thick smoke. Our winters can bring frigid temperatures, ice and snow accumulation as well as wind, causing trees and limbs to snap and fall onto power lines, resulting in outages.

As we venture toward the colder part of the year, it is always important to

know what to do in the case of an outage. Your dedicated team at Inland Power is committed to serving you and ensuring your power is restored as quickly and safely as possible.

Outage Triage When an outage occurs, your Inland Power team begins working right away to investigate the outage. The crews assigned begin researching comments from callers to know what to expect while en route to the outage.

The more information you can offer when reporting any outage, helps our line crew better prepare when restoring power. Your SmartHub app allows you to submit photos of problem areas, which can help line workers identify the issue.

Once on site, it is not as simple as turning the power back on. The crew must patrol every mile of line to look for obstructions or issues before reenergizing the lines to ensure that all safety requirements have been met.

It is important to note, that even if you do not see the line workers at your property, it does not mean they are not working to restore your power.

You can always track the progress of an outage on Inland’s website at inlandpower.com. Information provided includes the estimated time of power restoration, when the outage was reported, how many members are impacted, the cause of the outage and any comments provided by Inland Power crews.

Continued inside

OUR

mission

IS OUR

Continued from front page

Ways to report an outage

members.

Thanks to improvements in technology, there are several ways to report an outage.

AMI reporting If your outage lasts longer than five minutes, your AMI meter will send an automatic outage notification to Inland’s outage management system.

If you have opted out of AMI, then an automatic notification will not be sent.

Report by phone Inland Power’s outage hotline is 877-668-8243 and can be found at inlandpower.com under the Outages and Emergencies tab.

When calling to report an outage, follow the steps below.

• Press 1 to report an outage Select how you wish to have your service identified.

– M I S S I O N S TAT E M E N T

• Press 2 to be called back using caller ID • Press 3 to be called back using a different phone number

Steps on SmartHub app

Finally, you have the option of providing further information.

• Press 1 to report a loud bang • Press 2 to report a tree on the line • Press 3 to report a fallen pole • Press 4 to report a downed line • Press 6 to leave a detatiled message • Press 7 for no additional information reporting SmartHub reporting You can report an outage using your SmartHub app. Simply login into your account, click the icon that says ‘Service Status,’ click ‘Report my power is out,’ add any comments or pertinent information and click submit.

Large outages

• Press 1 to be looked up by caller ID • Press 2 to be looked up by account number • Press 3 to be looked up by meter number • Press 4 to be looked up by phone number

In the case of a widespread outage, it will take longer for information to become available and for line crews to attend to each outage.

Once your outage is reported, you will have the option to be called back regarding the status of your outage.

• Press 1 if no callback is needed

It is always good to prepare for outages before they ever happen.

For important outage safety tips visit inlandpower.com.

Aside from the outage map, Inland Power posts information on social media regarding outages impacting 500 or more meters.

Is your home weather-ready?

Where did our summer go?

It seems as though we ask this question every year–and every year summer seems to pass even faster. As we move toward colder temperatures and shorter days, it is time to start thinking about getting our homes ready for winter.

For the average household, almost half the annual energy bill goes toward heating and cooling. Being smart about how you control your temperature settings will help you save money and stay comfortable in your home.

One way you can save on energy costs is installing an advanced smart thermostat. These devices are Wi-Fi enabled and can automatically adjust heating and cooling temperature settings for optimal performance. These devices provide convenience, insight and control. While specific designs vary, common smart thermostat features can include: 1) Learning the temperature that you like and establishing a schedule that automatically adjusts to energy-saving temperatures when you are asleep or away.

2) Providing home energy use data you can track and manage.

3) Allowing you to control home heating and cooling remotely through your smartphone.

Not only can you save money by installing an advanced smart thermostat, but you can also receive a $100 rebate through Inland Power. For products to meet the advanced standards of the qualified products list, they must have the following minimum requirements: - Independent of manufacturer evolution(s) demonstrating energy savings for smart thermostat OR Energy Star certification and additional information necessary to prove energy savings - 7 day programmable or learning-based scheduling - Wi-Fi enabled with remote access

Your Co-op Connection | Getting to know who works for you

G

Gale Rettkowski

ale Rettkowski has served as a trustee on Inland Power’s board since 1995. He lives in Wilbur, Wash., and represents Inland Power’s fifth district.

Gale grew up farming in Lincoln County and served on Lincoln Electric’s board before merging with Inland Power. Aside from his service on Inland’s board, Gale has served nationally on both the Cooperative Finance Corporation and the Federated Rural Electric Insurance Exchange boards.

“Integrity at Inland is the very best,” Gale said. “I have enjoyed getting to know the people at Inland. The board and employees are of the highest quality.”

Gale enjoys being active in his church, getting to the golf course and spending time with his friends and family. He also enjoys seeing the changes that have happened in both the utility and farming industries.

Inland Power Board of Trustees - District 5

- Built in occupancy sensor - Heat pump auxiliary heat control optimization To qualify, you must be a current member of Inland Power. The home where the smart thermostat is installed must have an ELECTRIC forced air furnace (with or without a heat pump). You must request your rebate within 90 days of purchase and include a copy of the receipt or invoice showing the date of purchase, model number and cost of the purchase. The incentives will not exceed the cost of the product. Please allow up to six weeks for Inland to process the rebate.

For more information about smart thermostats, including the models that qualify for a rebate, visit inlandpower.com. You can also contact your conservation team by calling (509) 789-1801 or email at conservation@inlandpower.com.

VISIT INLANDPOWER.COM FOR MORE ENERGY EFFICIENCY TIPS

Generator Safety If you connect a generator into your home electrical system you must completely disconnect your home from the utility source. A common circuit breaker is not the best method to accomplish this task. A device that allows you to see the open connection (blade or similar switch) is best. An open connection is probably the most critical element when it comes to emergency generators so that these two things do not happen when you start your generator:

• First, your generator will try to

pick up the load it sees in the utility system, which it is not able to do. Shortly after that, it will overload and either open a breaker or burn up the generator.

• Secondly, for the time your

generator is feeding into the utility system it will be back feeding through the line transformers thereby placing a voltage in excess of 12,000 volts onto the de energized utility power system.This back feed voltage can seriously endanger Inland line workers who are working on the lines trying to restore power.

• Inspect your generator for loose parts, bare wires and faulty breakers before use.

• When running, always place your

generator set outside and downwind so hazardous levels of CO2 do not accumulate.

• It is safest to completely isolate

your generator from your house wiring and ultimately from the utility power system. This can be done by running an extension cord directly from your generator to the appliance you desire to run.