Empowered April 2021

Empowered is a monthly newsletter for members of

GO PAPERLESS AND WIN!

 Members who choose to go paperless in April will be entered to win $25 bill credits Earth Day is recognized as the largest civic event in the world. In 1970 the United States started celebrating Earth Day, and since then, it has blossomed into an international celebration of our planet, being observed in 193 countries.

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This April, Central would like to encourage our members to do their part to celebrate Earth Day. Plant a tree, ride your bike, use a reusable water bottle and switch to paperless billing. In these rle uncertain times, convess nience and safety are at the top of the list. When you switch to paperless billing, you can quickly access your bill instead of waiting for it to arrive in your mailbox. Paperless billing fits into everyone’s schedule and is environmentally friendly!

Pay anytime, anywhere using the SmartHub app. With SmartHub, your bill can be viewed from any location, a significant benefit of paperless billing. You use your mobile device for so many things, why not add receiving your bill instantly to that list?

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Being good stewards of the Earth ensures we have clean air to breathe and clean water to drink.

We hope you celebrate Earth Day this year by switching to paperless billing.

Four members who make the switch this April will each win a $25 bill credit. Simply switch your account to paperless billing, and you will be entered to win. Winners will be notified on May 3, 2021.

HOW TO GO PAPERLESS:  From the SmartHub app, tap the "More" button in the bottom right of the screen.

Tap "Settings" first, then "Paperless Billing." Swipe the button to turn on the feature.  From the SmartHub website, click "My Profile" from the top menu, then click "My Information."

Click to turn on paperless, in the "Update My Paperless Settings" section.  Or call 405-372-2884 to talk with an account representative.

UPDATE FROM THE CEO

A FEBRUARY TO REMEMBER

APRIL 2021 Central Board of Trustees: Carol Dvorak, President (District 3) Stu Preston, Vice President (District 2) Bill Davis, Secretary/Treasurer (District 7) Gary McCune (District 1) Len Tontz (District 4) Mark Pittman (District 5) James Wells (District 6) Hunter Robinson - Chief Executive Officer Empowered Editors: Jillianne Tebow - Vice President of Business Development and Marketing Larry Mattox - Director of Communications Kory Frazier - Marketing and Communications Specialist

www.MyCentral.coop facebook.com/MyCentralCoop twitter.com/MyCentralCoop instagram.com/MyCentralCoop

Contact Us: editor@MyCentral.coop 405-372-2884 | 800-375-2884 3305 S. Boomer Rd. | P.O. Box 1809 Stillwater, OK 74076

Central Rural Electric Cooperative is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

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February 2021 will be a month remembered by Oklahomans for many years to come. An arctic blast left the state in below freezing temperatures for nearly 14 days straight. Lows in Stillwater reached negative 15 degrees on February 16 with windchill ratings causing many mornings to feel much colder.

handful of outages caused by mother nature or unrelated events.

Although it was close, Central was fortunate to not be required to implement load shedding strategies that would have resulted in rolling blackouts across portions of our system. Unfortunately, many utilities across the Central hit a new system nation were not so lucky. We peak that was 12 megawatts saw neighboring utilities, (MW) higher than our under the direction of the previous peak, which was Southwest Power Pool (SPP), set during the height of the implement rolling blackoil and gas boom in 2015.

Hunter Robinson, outs to keep up with electric Central CEO To put that into perspective, demand. In Texas, many utilsome long-range predictions ities saw widespread outages for Central's system did not project when the ERCOT grid was unable to hitting this new peak until January keep up with demand.

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While Central was not subject to SPP Fortunately, meteorologists predicted load shedding requests, we did ask these dangerous temperatures well in members to voluntarily implement advance of the storm, which allowed conservation efforts to ensure electric your cooperative to prepare. The reliability at the request of our power Operations and Engineering staff im- providers. You made a difference. By mediately recognized the severity of watching system loading from one the pending event and began meeting night compared to another, we could to find ways to ensure the system was see decreased energy consumption prepared for record energy demands. across the system even though the Engineering staff spent hours assessprior night had colder temperatures. ing equipment settings and running A one-degree change in thermostats new peak load scenarios across the across the entire membership makes system, while linemen shifted their a big difference. focus from standard activities to performing field checks on critical As you know, Central is a distribution system equipment. cooperative and part of a three-tier network. We purchase power from Understanding the dangerous nature and are also a part-owner of KAMO of the approaching cold allowed your Power, a transmission cooperative cooperative to evaluate new ways to headquartered in Vinita. KAMO ensure outage times were as short as Power is also part-owner of the possible. The entire Central team was generation cooperative Associated on alert 24/7 and ready to respond Electric Cooperative, Inc., located in during the two-week period. While Springfield, Missouri. the proactive measures prevented n SEE “FEBRUARY,” PAGE 4 major system failures, there were a

WELLS EARNS CREDENTIALED CO-OP DIRECTOR CERTIFICATION Central Trustee, James Wells has completed coursework to earn the Credentialed Cooperative Director (CCD) certificate from the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.

board role and responsibilities, strategic planning, financial decision making and understanding the electric utility business.

Earning the CCD certificate is a requirement trustees James Wells, The CCD certification must achieve according to District 6 Trustee requires completion of the cooperative's bylaws. classes designed to provide Wells joined the Central basic knowledge and skills needed by board in 2020 as the District 6 Trustcooperative directors. Course topics ee. His district covers parts of Payne include director duties and liabilities, and Lincoln counties.

EACH APRIL WE #THANKALINEMAN

BE THUNDERSTORM AWARE Lightning is a leading cause of injury and death from weatherrelated hazards. Although most lightning victims survive, people struck by lightning often report long-term, debilitating symptoms.

Thunderstorms are dangerous storms that can include lightning, hail, powerful winds over 50 MPH, cause flash flooding and can produce tornadoes.

Linemen serve on always ready to the front lines of get the job done, our nation’s energy day or night,” said needs, and in Hunter Robinson, April we honor the CEO of Central. men and wom“Whether they’re en who work in restoring powchallenging and er after a major often dangerous storm or mainconditions to keep Central lineman, Blane McPhail works taining critical inthe lights on. We frastructure, they to restore power to members in the proudly recogare at the heart of Mulhall-Orlando area during the October 2020 ice storm. nize linemen for everything we do.” the services they perform around the clock in difficult Central invites members to thank conditions to keep power flowing. a lineman for the work they do. In April, use #ThankALineman on social “Linemen are the first responders of media to show your support for the our electric cooperative, and they’re men and women who light our lives.

If you are in a thunderstorm warning, find safe shelter right away, and follow these tips:

SCHEDULE PAYMENTS WITH SMARTHUB

Z Sign up for your community’s warning system. The Emergency Alert System (EAS) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Weather Radio also provide emergency alerts.

SmartHub now allows members to schedule payments!

Want your electric bill to come out of your checking account on your next payday? It’s now possible to schedule a payment for a future date! Schedule your payment using a checking or savings account, or credit card with SmartHub. Download the SmartHub app or visit https://mycentral.smarthub.coop/Login.html.

Z When thunder roars, go indoors!

Z Move from outdoors into a building or car.

Z Pay attention to alerts and warnings.

Z Unplug appliances.

Z Do not use landline phones.

You can prepare now: Z Create an emergency plan so you and your family know what to do, where to go and what you will need to protect yourselves.

Z Identify nearby, sturdy buildings close to where you live, work, study and play.

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n FEBRUARY CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2

The arctic blast’s impact on you as a member is naturally of high concern.

Many of you noticed that your electric bill was higher than normal due to the increased energy consumption during the two-week period in February. Recognizing that this could be an unplanned burden for some led us to offer flexible payment arrangements to those in need.

for energy. This, coupled with energy production shortfalls caused by the extremely cold weather adversely affecting power generation technologies, resulted in energy market prices increasing 200 percent or more depending on the timing and need across the area. The rise in energy market prices will ultimately cause an increased cost of energy, but we do not expect the impact to be great.

Energy prices across the nation skyrocketed due to the high demand

Oklahoma is the second lowest cost energy state in the nation, and Central

EARTH DAY ACTIVITY

is one of the lowest cost energy providers in the state. We do not see a significant change in that status, and our goal is to provide you safe, reliable service at the lowest rate possible.

I want to thank all of you for your energy conservation efforts at a critical time during this event, and thank you for being a member of Central Rural Electric Cooperative.

Kids, color the picture below and share a tip for making the Earth a better place. Have your parents snap a photo of you with your coloring sheet and email it to editor@mycentral.coop. We will share your photos and tips on social media the month of April.