Manager’s Comments Being Prepared

For Hurricane Season or Any Other

Be prepared. We often attribute this credo to The Boy Scouts of America.

Their actual motto is Prepared for Life, and their mission is “to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes… .”

The Boy Scouts are definitely onto something.

We prepare for all sorts of things. When taking a trip, we prepare by packing our clothes, toiletries, and other desired items we feel we’ll need. We don’t just wake up and drive off.

In our jobs, we must prepare for meetings and events. This can take days, weeks or even months. Regardless of the time required, we do not simply walk into a meeting or try to put on an event without preparing. We could try, but without preparation, the results would probably be less than desirable.

For the electric utility business, we must prepare for a lot of things. Each season of the year presents its own challenges.

In winter, we must deal with freezing temperatures along with the potential for snow and ice. In spring, we have unpredictable storms and typically heavy rainfall with strong winds. During summer, we are blessed with high temperatures and the potential for even more storms, only these usually bring lots of lightning.

In fall, we never know what we’re going to get. We can get lingering warmer weather from an “Indian Summer” or suddenly dipping temperatures from an early winter. The rapidly changing conditions can often bring more violent storms.

There is another season we recognize. It stretches through five months and produces the most dynamic, awesome, violent and destructive weather our planet has ever seen—hurricane season.

It starts June 1 and runs through Novem- ber 30. This year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicts a “normal” season, forecasting a range of 12 to 17 total named storms. Of those, NOAA says we could see five to nine become hurricanes, packing winds of 74 mph and stronger. These are just predictions, and our reality this year could be much different.

While our area is roughly 200 miles from the Gulf Coast, we are not immune to the impact of hurricanes. These powerful storms in the past have caused widespread damage and lasting power outages in and around the communities we serve.

In 2020, Hurricane Zeta moved with such speed and ferocity that it lost little of its power after making landfall. It raced northward and struck our system head on. The result was extreme damage that left 96% of our members without power. It impacted Coosa Valley Electric like no other storm in our history.

So, how do we deal with all these seasons and potential challenges? We prepare, and we stay prepared.

We prepare by training our employees in not just their jobs. We train them to deal with those situations where one or more lives are on the line. We train them to recognize problems, troubleshoot the causes, work out solutions and repair the damage to restore electricity. We train to isolate damaged line sections and minimize the long-term impact to large numbers of consumers.

We keep our equipment maintained and in a state of readiness. We ensure we have adequate supplies and materials on hand. In short, we prepare, and we stay prepared 12 months out of the year.

When you gather this year with family and friends to celebrate our nation’s independence, you can rest assured we will be there should Mother Nature decide to contribute her own brand of fireworks. Happy Fourth!

For Manufactured Homes:

• All upgrades must convert electric furnace heating to a heat pump with a Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio of at least 14.

• If you currently own your manufactured home, you earn $400 per ton for the new unit. With many homes needing at least a 3-ton unit, that’s a $1,200 rebate paid back to you directly!

• If you are purchasing a new manufactured home, we’ll pay for the upgrade directly to the dealer.

For Site-Built Homes:

• Rebates apply to new dual-fuel and mini-split units.

• Upgrades to your current HVAC system must improve the SEER rating by at least 1, and the SEER rating of the new unit must be at least 15.

• Rebates are $300 per ton for a SEER improvement of 1 and $350 per ton for an improvement of 2 or more!

Studies show that upgrading to a more-efficient heat pump can save members up to $550 per year in heating costs!

For more information or to get started on your upgrade, call 800-273-7210 or email Lucas Browning at lbrowning@coosavalleyec.com.

Independence Day: The office of Coosa Valley Electric will be closed Monday, July 3, and Tuesday, July 4, in observance of the Independence Day holiday. To pay your bill, call 1-800-273-7210, option 1, or visit any MoneyGram location nationwide. You can also download the CVEC Connect smartphone app. The office will open for normal business hours on Wednesday, July 5.