2023 September NAEC Center Page

N O R T H A R K A N S A S E L E C T R I C C O O P E R AT I V E

Operation Round Up® awards 17 scholarships North Arkansas Electric Cooperative’s Operation Round Up® program awarded scholarships to 17 recent high school graduates.

Fourteen students will receive one-time scholarships of $1,000. Three students — Daniel Jones, Noah Stevenson and Allison Webber — each will receive $1,000 toward their college education annually for up to four years.

High school seniors may apply for the next round of scholarships beginning Feb. 1. The application will be posted at naeci.com and available through high school counselors.

Members can help fund future scholarships by enrolling their electric accounts in Operation Round Up.

Hunter Bahr Mountain Home

Sophia Baker Mountain Home

Sierra Balentine Mountain Home

Isaiah Kemp Mountain Home

Peyton Love Viola

Madalyn Miller Salem

Noah Stevenson Izard County

Maggie Thompson Mountain Home

Allison Webber Highland

Participants agree to have their monthly electric bills “rounded up” to the nearest dollar. For example, a bill of $95.60 would become $96.

Donations are placed in a trust and administered by a five-member independent board of community leaders.

22 September 2023 NORTH ARK ANSAS ELEC TRIC COOPERATIVE

HEADQUARTERS 225 S. Main St., Salem DISTRICT OFFICES 824 Hwy 56, Ash Flat

Savannah Chance Mammoth Spring

Colton Cooley Mountain Home

1520 Hwy 62/412 E., Mountain Home

Daniel Jones Mountain Home

CONTACT NAEC 870-895-3221 info@naeci.com PAY/VIEW BILL naeci.com ▶ Account Login REPORT OUTAGE 870-895-3221 844-335-4461 NAEC App naeci.com ▶ Outage Viewer

Blake Moody Calico Rock

Ava Pendarvis Highland

Trevi Sheaner Mountain Home The Operation Round Up® Board of Trustees granted $1,000 to the Pineville Volunteer Fire Department to go toward a water pump and to Fulton County Master Gardeners for a tulip display.

Aniston Williams Mountain Home

Audrey Young Mountain Home

MORE CO-OP NEWS ON PAGE 26

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NAEC's offices will be closed Sept. 4 in observance of Labor Day. A dispatcher will be on duty, and line personnel will be on call in the event of an outage.

Report an outage with the NAEC app or 870-895-3221.

NORTH ARK ANSAS ELEC TRIC COOPERATIVE

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N O R T H A R K A N S A S E L E C T R I C C O O P E R AT I V E

NAEC tackling dead trees along lines to avoid potential outages North Arkansas Electric Cooperative (NAEC) and contractors have begun an extended effort to eliminate the threat dead trees pose to the more than 5,000 miles of line that make up the distribution system.

When dead trees in and near the right-of-way inevitably fall, they often take power lines and poles down with them. This not only poses a safety concern for members of the public but also causes sometimeslengthy outages for NAEC members while line personnel must repair the damage.

PAUL GARRISON

"The co-op wants to take a more proactive, systematic, circuit-bycircuit approach to these dead trees," said James Woody, vice president of operations. "The past few years, we've seen an increase in the number of dead trees, particularly ash trees, along our lines, and that has led to increased outages for our membership when storms or time eventually take them."

Dead trees, such as this one in Baxter County, eventually will fall and often take down lines and snap electric poles in the process.

During the next four months, NAEC employees and contractors will concentrate on the dead trees that are along the three-phase power lines, "topping off" dead trees inside of the right-of-way as well as dead trees outside of the right-of-way that will reach power lines when they fall.

As is consistent with NAEC's policy, they will leave the dead tree or tree sections on the property where they do not cause a property access issue.

Crews will begin with the three-phase lines and then will address single-phase lines. The issues with dead trees on the single-phase lines will take much longer to address due to the shear number of trees and miles of line. That work will continue into 2024 and beyond.

"This project represents a large financial investment on the co-op's part, but we consider it worthwhile to improve service reliability for our members as well as to help limit costly repairs from these dead trees damaging our system in the future," Woody said.

PAUL GARRISON

NAEC members can help prevent future tree-related outages by considering the location before planting a new one. Guidelines include:

Dead trees in and near NAEC's right-of-way will be "topped off" so that they no longer pose a threat to the distribution system.

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NORTH ARK ANSAS ELEC TRIC COOPERATIVE

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Do not plant shrubs or trees within 30 feet of the power lines.

Any vegetation taller than 10 feet in that area will be trimmed or removed.

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Plant medium trees that will be less than 40 feet when mature at least 30 feet away from power lines.

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Plant larger trees that will be more than 40 feet when mature at least 50 feet away from lines.

Members with questions may email info@naeci.com or call 870-8953221 during NAEC business hours of 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays.