Energy Sense

Creek Cleanup

This Spring, Haywood EMC had the opportunity to “Adopt-A-Stream” along a section of Jonathan Creek with Haywood Waterways Association’s program. Part of the program includes organizing and hosting creek cleanups—the first of which Haywood EMC held in June.

On June 11th, Haywood EMC employees gathered with community members to clean-up trash from this section of Jonathan Creek. Over the span of a few hours, over 250 pounds of rusted car parts, old yard signs, several vinyl and plastic bags, and countless plastic bottles, tin cans, cigarette butts and more were cleaned from the creek. While this was the first of our clean-up events, we plan on hosting more in the future, so stay tuned for later event announcements!

PSA Locked Gates with key codes

Attention land owners and home owners’ associations: Please alert Haywood EMC of any changes in gate codes you may have in areas where power lines, power poles, and right-of-way exists! This allows Haywood EMC to best serve all member-owners in the community. To alert HEMC of gate code or gate lock changes, give our office a call at 828-452-2281.

Rights-of-Way Tree Trimming

Haywood EMC’s contractors will be tree trimming power line rights-of-way in the following areas throughout the month of August. • Davidson River • Quebec • Ironduff • Cherokee • Hemphill • Fie Top • Cold Mountain • Toxaway • Hidden Valley

Power

Lines

Published by Haywood Electric Membership Corp. 376 Grindstone Road, Waynesville, NC 28785 Board of Directors Larry Clark President, BLC, CCD: (828) 627-8064 Roy Stamey Vice President, CCD: (828) 648-1703 Lucas Sorrells Sec-Treas., CCD: (828) 734-4099 Steve Foster Asst. Sec.-Treas: (828) 743-3771 Directors James P. Boyette, BLC, CCD: (828) 884-6316 David Noland, CCD: (828) 627-1561 Clay Talley, CCD: (828) 526-4506 Executive Vice President/CEO Tom Batchelor: (828) 452-9192 Call our toll-freecustomer service line 1-800-951-6088 Waynesville Office (828) 452-2281 Lake Toxaway Office (828) 966-4215 Visit our Web site: haywoodemc.com

Annual Report

2021

2021 ANNUAL REPORT Executive Message Dear Member-Owner,

Over the last two years, Haywood EMC has had to pivot, shift and stay flexible on all fronts. While this has been primarily due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Haywood EMC also began in 2021 to re-evaluate and shift in ways that we believe will best equip the cooperative to serve its memberowners for years to come.

In 2021, Haywood EMC once again took cautious measures to limit exposure to the virus by slightly changing the way we operated, while still maintaining a high level of service to our member-owners. Although the cooperative was able to hold some events, we canceled the Member Appreciation Days and changed the Annual Meeting’s format once again to be held outdoors at the Waynesville headquarters.

As the year progressed, we continued to stay flexible, adjust our work safety protocols and most important, continued to support our member-owners and our community in different ways. The last two years have shown everyone what we’ve always known—community matters, especially in times of need. For over 80 years, regardless of the circumstances, Haywood EMC has been guided by our founding principle to serve the community.

Energizing our Communities

Haywood Electric Membership Corporation is proud to serve over 28,100 member-owner accounts. We are owned by the memberowners (customers), who benefit from the services our organization provides: affordable, reliable and safe electricity. Cooperative member-owners have a voice and a vote in cooperative matters through elected board members. Haywood EMC is one of over 900 not-for-profit cooperatives in 47 states that provide electric service to 56 percent of the nation’s landmass.

Haywood EMC is much more than an energy company; concern for community has always been and will continue to be a core principle of our business model. Over the past year, we’ve all needed to lean on our community through tough times. Whether it was pushing through the continued effects of the pandemic or rebuilding and supporting one another through the effects of August’s floods, your cooperative is here for you. In short, Haywood EMC seeks to improve the quality of life for our memberowners and their communities in good times and in tough ones.

Your electric cooperative is private, independent, not-for-profit electric utility business owned by the people we serve. Part of serving our communities involves looking out for our member-owners’ needs. We are incorporated under the laws of the state of North Carolina in which we operate and were established to provide at-cost electric service. Haywood EMC is governed by a board of directors elected from the membership, which sets policies and procedures that are implemented by the Cooperative’s management—for the good of those we serve.

To best serve our memberowners, we must provide the best possible electric-utility service. In 2021, Haywood EMC made changes to increase grid resiliency through several system upgrades. The system upgrades, listed below, were made to help reduce the number of outages, reduce the duration of outages and increase system communications, all leading to better service to our member-owners. Satisfaction Surveys Moved Online

Due to the changing marketplace for data collection and higher costs for telephone surveys, Haywood EMC transitioned to 100 percent online surveys.

These Member Satisfaction Tracking Surveys and data collection, completed through a partnership with Data Decisions Group, help Haywood EMC obtain a biannual snapshot of how we are doing and to see where improvements are needed. The surveys also also give member-owners contacted with an easy opportunity to share praises and/or concerns for the services received.

Installed a new power transformer,

relaying package and SCADA system for the Bethel Substation. This upgrade increased the available capacity for the Bethel area and provided better protection for the assets inside the substation. Placed a recloser on the main line

of the Walhalla circuit in Cashiers to help isolate faults while maintaining service to as many customers as possible. Worked with Duke Energy,

our power supplier, to install a new transmission switch at the Fines Creek substation, which allows the station to remain energized when issues occur on Duke’s transmission line between Canton and the Waterville Generation Station through the Pigeon River Gorge.

Energizing our Sustainability Goals

The word sustainability can take on different meanings depending upon context, but here at Haywood EMC, sustainability means delivering reliable, affordable, low-carbon electricity over an electric grid that is increasingly efficient, resilient, secure and capable of supporting the needs of our members and communities.

For decades, your needs have centered on reliable power delivered at the lowest possible cost, and while those priorities still exist today, we also know our member-owners’ expectations related to clean energy are growing.

Our goal is to achieve all three — reliability, affordability and sustainability — in a balanced approach that makes the most of the tremendous value electricity has to offer and ensures a brighter future for those we serve.

Our Brighter Future vision centers on two sustainability goals through our power supply contracts with Duke Energy and North Carolina’s Electric Cooperatives: a 50 percent reduction in power generation carbon emissions from 2005 levels by 2030 and net-zero power generation carbon emissions by 2050. We’re pursuing these goals in several ways including: Advocating for continued use of multiple power sources.

The electricity we provide to you is generated from a variety of power sources that each offer important benefits. Nuclear energy, which is currently used to generate about half our power, is not only an extremely reliable, safe and affordable source of electricity, but is also emissions free, making it environmentally friendly. Natural gas is also used because it’s affordable and can be dispatched quickly when needed, making it a great complement to other power resources, like renewable energy (wind, solar and hydroelectric).

Investments in technology.

New technology, such as battery storage, will allow us to increasingly utilize renewable energy sources by making it possible to store energy when demand for it is low and use it later, when demand is high. Future technologies could include the more effective and efficient capture of carbon emissions from non-renewable sources, as well as new ways to match local power needs with local power resources.

Innovative energy solutions and programs.

Many of the programs Haywood EMC offers like Peak hour load management, prepay and SmartHub, aim to make the electric grid more flexible and efficient by managing demand for power; this helps reduce carbon emissions and keeps costs down for everyone. In addition, efforts to use electricity to power devices and processes formerly powered by fossil fuels — like automobiles and agricultural processes — will further cut carbon emissions and support our long-term carbon reduction goals.

Replaced aging breaker and

SCADA system at our Otto breaker station, which provides better protection to the transmission line that feeds Scaly Mountain substation. Completed Frozen Creek line

rebuild to provide greater capacity in that area of Rosman. Completed double circuit line

out of the Candler substation, providing greater capacity and redundant paths for the customers in the Hominy Valley community.

Powerful Agricultural Partnerships

Haywood EMC was founded by farmers over 80 years ago. We continue to work closely with our local agricultural industry to build a brighter future for our rural communities.

National Ag Day in 2021 was on March 23, but we are thankful every day to serve our agricultural members by helping them save money, improve efficiency and achieve sustainability goals.

It was with this in mind that Haywood EMC and the rest of North Carolina’s electric cooperatives recently developed a new initiative called BEST Solutions, which offers a wide range of customized electric tools and technologies related to Beneficial Electrification (BE) and Sustainable Technologies (ST) that can meet the needs of agricultural, commercial and industrial businesses.

New electric technologies are emerging rapidly and are making processes, devices and equipment cheaper, smarter and cleaner than ever. Using electricity instead of fossil fuels—what we call beneficial electrification—can yield benefits that include cost savings, higher productivity and reduced emissions. Examples include electric irrigation, electric equipment like forklifts and transportation refrigeration units and indoor agriculture.

Sustainable technologies are also growing in popularity as many farms and businesses strive to meet clean energy goals, and we can apply our expertise and resources to help our farming member-owners adopt the right technologies to meet their needs. Increased demand for low-carbon energy sources and a decline in the cost of solar and energy technologies are creating more options for businesses interested in utilizing diverse power sources. Potential sustainable technology solutions include solar power and energy storage devices, microgrids that integrate renewable and conventional generation sources, and Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) programs. All these technologies and solutions play a part in achieving our vision of a Brighter Future for the people, businesses and communities we serve.

Thank you again to our farmers and agricultural members for the vital ways you support our daily lives.