Membership MATTERS
Avoid danger
Call 811 before you dig
Homeowners can make risky assumptions about whether they should get utility lines marked, but every digging job requires a call — even small projects like planting trees, shrubs, or installing a mailbox.
The depth of utility lines varies and there may be multiple types of utility lines in any given area. Erosion and root system growth can also alter depth or location of buried lines. Hitting a line can knock out service to your home and an entire neighborhood, cause serious injury to you and others, and can result in fines and repair costs.
For your safety, please call 811 at least three business days before any digging project on your property. If you have a contractor performing work, make sure they’ve called 811.
In fact, it’s required by law to notify local utilities of digging projects. This one call will get all participating utility underground lines marked for free to help prevent problems or injuries. Simply call 811 and answer a few questions about your location and the type of work to be done. Or go to the website at Call811.com
Pro tip: Be sure to keep the ticket number 811 gives you for future references or to track your request online.
Remember: know what’s below before you dig — always call 811!
Why the rolling blackouts occurred
Understanding the reasons behind the emergency rolling blackouts and call for load curtailment that occurred Christmas Eve is an issue the utility industry, government leaders and others continue to evaluate as of the time this issue goes to press.
First, let me say thank you for your patience and support. During that time, our line technicians were already out in the bitter cold fighting to restore outages caused by high winds. We never want our members to endure an outage for any length of time, especially over the holidays when most are celebrating, cooking and enjoying family and friends.
Briefly stated, utilities across the Carolinas received an urgent directive by Duke Energy, who supplies the power we distribute to our members, to immediately implement “load curtailment.” This meant quickly reducing 5% of the electricity being consumed by our members at that time.
We complied with the mandate because we did not want to put our members at risk of longer, more widespread service disruptions that could have lasted hours or days. Ultimately, 16% of our members were affected by the load curtailment outages and many more could have been impacted if the amount of electricity being consumed had not been immediately reduced across the Southeast.
It’s important to understand there are regional, multi-state power grids for transporting electricity from the power plants that generate electricity to utilities that transport and deliver it, and, finally, to the homes and businesses that use it. Grid operators monitor that flow, ensuring safe, reliable electricity to meet consumer demand.
On that day, various factors created the “perfect storm” to place an unprecedented strain on our regional power grid. Winter Storm Elliott brought sustained record low temperatures and frigid winds to the East Coast; consumers were using much more electricity, so demand was well above projections, and the extreme cold caused supply issues for certain generation fuels, primarily natural gas. This resulted in generation outages and reductions in output at some power plants across the region making them unavailable during the morning hours on Christmas Eve when the demand for electricity was at record levels.
Utilities had very little, if any, forewarning that demand would need to be urgently reduced.
These situations are extremely rare. In fact, we had previously never been asked to implement emergency load curtailment. However, if the need ever occurs again, there were lessons learned by all, including:
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Director Proxy Committee to be appointed
As part of the director election governance process, giving members an option to vote for cooperative directors by mail or internet, a Director Proxy Committee will be appointed by the Board of Directors at their regular March board meeting.
This committee will be made up of three directors whose terms are not expiring and who are not running for re-election this year to the Board of Directors.
As stated in the cooperative’s Bylaws, the Proxy Committee serves multiple roles for the membership. First, the committee will cast votes for all members designating their preferences selected on their submitted electronic or paper proxy forms. Secondly, the committee will serve as a proxy for any member wishing to assign their vote for director elections to the committee. Lastly, the committee will cast votes for members who return their proxy but do not make a choice on the voting options.
Director election kits will be mailed, or sent by email to members who have requested to receive this information electronically, on May 24, 2023. The notice of Annual Meeting, along with information about board candidates, will be part of the director election kit.
Members have convenient options to vote by internet or mail and therefore, are not re-
quired to attend the Annual Meeting in order to vote for directors. However, members who have not voted by the deadline date of June 14, 2023, at 5 p.m., or who voted by internet or mail, but wish to change their vote, must attend the Annual Meeting on Thursday, June 22, 2023, at 4 p.m. in order to do so.
Members wishing to be considered for nomination to serve on the Board of Directors have two options: the Nominating Committee or Nomination by Petition. Interested members must first submit a director application packet, which is available by contacting Julie O’Dell , chief administrative officer, Blue Ridge Energy, at jodell@blueridgeenergy.com or by calling 1-800-451-5474, ext. 3202
The completed packet is due by 5 p.m., Wednesday, March 1, when using the Nominating Committee process or by 5 p.m., Monday, April 3, when using the Nomination by Petition process.
For a complete list of qualifications and requirements to serve as a director of the cooperative, please refer to the cooperative’s Bylaws available at BlueRidgeEnergy.com under Company>Board Governance>Corporate Documents or by contacting any Blue Ridge Energy office.
• Shortening the length of winter emergency curtailments to 30 minutes or less.
• Giving members notice in multiple ways. In addition to social media, we are working on an automated system that will notify affected members using multiple means.
• We will strive to give members as much advance notification as is possible in an emergency situation.
• We will continue the practice of “rolling” emergency load curtailments: only affecting small numbers of members at a given time.
While the emergency load curtailments helped ensure the safety and stability of the power grid, we realize this or any outage affects the daily lives of our members. We continue our commitment to providing the most reliable electricity possible. And, we’ll continue participating in efforts to explore ways we can better serve members should the situation ever arise again.
