A MONTHLY NEWSLETTER FROM BLUE RIDGE ENERGY
matters MEMBERSHIP
July 2019
BRE Line Techs Help Bring Village Out of Darkness Blue Ridge Energy’s history and background of helping others knows no bounds — or borders. Recently, line technicians Eddie Stephens (Watauga) and Jerry Gregg (Caldwell) returned from a trip to Bolivia as part of NRECA International and its mission to provide electricity to world regions without it.
The two-week trip brought Eddie and Jerry to the remote mountain village of Laphia, Bolivia. Laphia, a community of mostly farmers, had never been connected to the electric grid. Candles and kerosene lights were the only source of lighting after sunset. Nestled at nearly 11,000 feet above sea level, line technicians faced daunting tasks, from steep terrain to primitive working conditions. They endured physical challenges due to the lack of oxygen found at these high elevations.
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In roughly two weeks, Eddie’s crew of 13 volunteers from sister cooperatives around North Carolina managed to construct five miles of line that connected 68 buildings and power to 120 villagers. At the end of their work, the community gathered together in the local school building, and the lights were turned on for the first time. Electricity had arrived for a rural community that felt overlooked for decades. Keep an eye out for more pictures and details about Eddie and Jerry’s work in Bolivia in the August issue of Membership Matters!
Blue Ridge volunteers Eddie Stephens and Jerry Gregg, in Laphia, Bolivia. Photo courtesy of Studio 1441.
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perspective From Blue Ridge CEO Doug Johnson
Keeping Bills Low: No Rate Increase You’ll be very pleased to know that despite projections for a possible rate increase this year, your cooperative is able to manage costs and keep rates stable for 2019! Better yet, we foresee that due to favorable wholesale power cost, we will be able to provide members with refunds on November and December bills this year! We’ll share more details on this in the coming months.
Another significant cost is our grid modernization efforts. Savings in wholesale power have helped offset some of the cost of our Horse Gap to Rutherwood 230 kV Project, which will expand capacity and improve reliability for our mountain communities. This critical project replaces a 50-year-old system that is nearing its useful lifespan to reliably serve members.
The future is also looking bright for 2020 as we continue every effort to control variable costs such as wholesale power, which makes up about 60 percent of your bill, as well as costs for critical updates to the power grid to ensure you have the reliable electricity that you need.
Finally, we have more good news to announce! The cooperative’s fifth community solar garden is under construction. This site is located in Caldwell County, but any member can subscribe to the energy output of one or more panels and benefit from this renewable energy source. Our first four sites were fully subscribed in less than a year, so we’re very excited to offer another community solar garden due to high member demand. Construction should be complete by end of summer.
As our most significant cost, wholesale power is a critical area of management. One factor we are monitoring that could greatly increase power costs for all consumers in North Carolina is a recent ruling requiring Duke Energy to excavate state coal ash basins and place the contents in lined landfills. Duke originally planned to cap the basins, and they have challenged the ruling issued by the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality.
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NEW Solar Garden on the way!
• 432 solar panels • Yearly output: 160 MWh (enough to power 15 homes) • Located in Caldwell County • Open to ANY residential member to subscribe • Constructed by a Watauga County renewable energy contractor • Sign up for the waiting list at BlueRidgeEnergy.com/Solar
At Blue Ridge Energy, we’re committed to keeping your bill as low as possible while offering clean, renewable energy and service that’s reliable. We hope you feel the good value we seek to provide to you, the members of Blue Ridge Energy! MEMBERSHIP matters
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Blue Ridge Energy Named to Best Employers List Blue Ridge Energy has been named among the best employers in the state, according to Business North Carolina magazine. The electric cooperative and propane and fuels provider serving northwest North Carolina and parts of Virginia was ranked at the top of state employers based on evaluations measuring workplace policies, business philosophy, systems and employee culture. The list of the Best Employers in North Carolina was created by Business North Carolina magazine, the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), and NC State Council and Best Companies Group. Blue Ridge Energy employees some 220 electric and propane and fuels employees in six offices with showrooms in Lenoir, Boone, West Jefferson, Sparta and Morganton along with corporate headquarters in Lenoir, NC. The electric cooperative serves some 76,000 members in North Carolina, and the propane and fuels business serves over 30,000 customers in North Carolina and Virginia.
Rush Hour Rewards for Nest Owners!
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North Carolina’s electric cooperatives and Blue Ridge Energy are partnering with Nest smart home thermostats to offer the Rush Hour Rewards program. This demand response program complements the cooperative’s Beat The Peak effort to control wholesale power costs during high demand periods when extreme peaks in electricity usage are occurring. These efforts benefit all members by helping keep rates lower.
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Rush Hour Rewards participants receive a one-time $50 bill credit just for signing up for the program! Nest owners need not do anything further than register their thermostat directly with Nest. Upon joining the program, the thermostat adjusts heating and cooling when Blue Ridge Energy calls a Beat The Peak event. This typically occurs on only the hottest summer afternoons, between 2 pm and 7 pm. Rush Hour Rewards limits controls to no more than four consecutive hours at a time and no more than three days a week. Nest owners retain the ability to change their temperature settings at all times.
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members receive notice of capital credits allocations...
Capital credits: allocations vs. refunds On the July bill, members will receive notice of capital credits allocations from the previous year. Please be aware this is NOT a refund — refunds were issued in May. Here’s more about the difference between capital credits allocations and refunds: • Allocations are based on the amount of electricity a member purchased the previous fiscal year. This annual allocation amount is added to your overall membership capital credits balance, which reflects all the years in which you had service with Blue Ridge Energy.
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Doug Johnson
EDITOR Renée R. Whitener
PRODUCTION SUPERVISOR Susan Simmons
• Refunds occur when your Board of Directors approve a capital credits retirement. This involves refunding a portion of your overall membership capital credits balance. The rotation of these funds over time allows the cooperative to build and maintain power lines, substations, rights of way, and other areas to ensure safe and reliable electric service. It also reduces the need for loans, which keep costs
down for members while still allowing for refunds to the member-owners of Blue Ridge Energy. Capital credits are a benefit of belonging to a cooperative. This not-for-profit business model is used by thousands of cooperatives to balance debt and equity to help keep member rates low and provide reliable electric service.
Your annual capital credits allocation listed on your July bill is NOT a refund, but rather one of the first steps in the annual process. Refunds were issued in May.
DISTRICT OFFICES Caldwell Watauga Ashe Alleghany Wilkes PowerLine®
(828) 754-9071 (828) 264-8894 (336) 846-7138 (336) 372-4646 (800) 451-5474 (800) 448-2383
Toll Free
(800) 451-5474
(PowerLine® is an automated account information and outage reporting system.)
(for members outside of the service area.)
To report an outage at any time, call one of the numbers listed above. OFFICE HOURS: 8:30 am - 5:00 pm, Monday-Friday Kiosk available 24/7 + Night deposit Visit us on the web: BlueRidgeEnergy.com +
Think safety: Call 811 Homeowners can make risky assumptions about whether or not they should get their utility lines marked, but every digging job requires a call — even small projects like planting trees and shrubs. Digging without first calling to mark all underground facilities can disrupt service to an entire neighborhood, cause harm to you and others. For your safety, please call “811” at least three business days before any digging project. It’s required by law to notify local utilities regarding digging projects. This one call will get all participating utility underground lines marked for free. Simply call 811 and answer a few questions about your location and the type of work to be done. Be sure to keep the ticket number 811 gives you for future references or to track your request online at: www.ncocc.org. Remember, know what’s below before you dig — always call 811! This institution is an equal opportunity provider and employer.
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MEMBERSHIP matters
6/10/19 5:00 PM