2023 September NAEC The Messenger

SEPTEMBER 2023

THE MESSENGER A Publication for North Arkansas Electric Cooperative Members

17 grads earn scholarships thru Round Up 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. 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. The volunteer board evaluates all requests and determines how Operation Round Up funds are distributed.

Since its inception, more than $224,000 in college scholarships, grants to community organizations and disaster relief has been awarded.

In July, the board also awarded $1,000 to the Fulton County Master Gardeners for the Salem tulip display and $1,000 to the Pineville Volunteer Fire Department to go toward a new water pump.

Nonprofits can download the application for a donation at naeci.com/operation-round-up.

Hunter Bahr Mountain Home

Sophia Baker Mountain Home

Sierra Balentine Mountain Home

Savannah Chance Mammoth Spring

Colton Cooley Mountain Home

Daniel Jones Mountain Home

Isaiah Kemp Mountain Home

Peyton Love Viola

Madalyn Miller Salem

Blake Moody Calico Rock

Ava Pendarvis Highland

Trevi Sheaner Mountain Home

Noah Stevenson Izard County

Maggie Thompson Mountain Home

Allison Webber Highland

Aniston Williams Mountain Home

Audrey Young Mountain Home

SMALL CHANGE, BIG IMPACT — Operation Round Up! Enroll your electric account(s) by calling 870895-3221, visiting naeci.com/operation-round-up or mentioning Operation Round Up while in the lobby or drive-thru. The average annual donation per account is just $6, but that adds up to a lot of good when many participate.

NAEC tackling dead trees to avoid potential outages North Arkansas Electric Cooperative 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 sometimes-lengthy outages for NAEC members while line personnel must repair the damage.

“The co-op wants to take a more proactive, systematic, circuit-by-circuit 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.”

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

HAPPY LABOR DAY — NAEC offices will be closed Sept. 4. Personnel will be on hand in the event of an outage.

Report using the app or calling 870-895-3221.

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.

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

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

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

ENERGY EFFICIENCY TIP OF THE MONTH Fall is the perfect time to schedule a tune-up for your heating system. Home heating accounts for a large portion of winter energy bills, and no matter what kind of system you have, you can save energy and money by regularly maintaining your equipment.

— energy.gov

DAILY HIGHS & LOWS — JULY 2023 Average Daily High: 90.98° compared to 95.54° in 2022

TEMPERATURE

Average Daily Low: 69.15° compared to 71.45° in 2022 Total Rainfall Amount: 3.35” compared to 3.22” in 2022 Warmest Day: July 27, 99.8° at 4 p.m.

DAYS

CONTACT NAEC

RIGHT-OF-WAY

ON THE FRONT

870-895-3221 info@naeci.com naeci.com

Gassville, Buford, Hwy. 201 S. of Mtn. Home; Hicks Road and Military Drive; Mammoth Spring and Many Islands areas

NAEC’s Leah Rouse, left, presents Debbie Moore of the Fulton County Master Gardeners with a $1,000 donation courtesy of members enrolled in Operation Round Up.

IMAGES: TORI MOSS; SUBMITTED; RONI/ADOBE STOCK

Coolest Day: July 10, 58.1° at 5 a.m.