Membership MATTERS
Capital credits refunds coming in May!
Check the mail or your bill
Money is coming back to members this May thanks to a $5.8 million capital credits retirement approved by your board of directors!
Checks begin mailing mid-May, so be sure to check your mailbox! Members qualifying for a $35 or more refund will be mailed a check separate from their electric bill. Those qualifying for less will see it as a credit to their electric account in May. Members new to the cooperative as of 2023 will be eligible for capital credit refunds beginning next year.
As a cooperative, Blue Ridge Energy doesn’t earn profits. Instead, revenues remaining after all expenses are paid each year are considered “margins.” Margins are allocated annually to members and reflect your member equity (ownership) in the cooperative. After being used for a period of years as capital to help finance reliability projects, these funds are returned to members.
This process helps reduce the need for loans, which in turn, helps keep your electricity rates lower. It also helps maintain a healthy balance between debt and equity to ensure your cooperative’s financial health and stability.
The percentage of equity to be retired and refunded to members is determined annually by your board of directors based on your cooperative’s financial condition. This year, that amount is 3 percent.
Over the history of Blue Ridge Energy, more than $92 million has been returned to members.
Rising costs impact electricity
As a member-owned electric cooperative, Blue Ridge Energy is committed to looking out for our members’ best interests by delivering reliable electricity at the most affordable cost—even during the current environment of significant increases in costs.
Your cooperative is doing everything possible to manage rising costs and will continue to do so. However, there are many factors affecting the price we all pay for electricity that are beyond our control.
The key drivers of rising costs affecting the price of electricity include:
• Geo-political activity across the globe continues to disrupt the world’s energy markets and has sent energy prices soaring at unprecedented levels. Rising costs of natural gas and other electric generation sources were significantly impacted in 2022. While there’s been recent natural gas price improvement, it’s unclear if current prices will be sustained throughout 2023. Additionally, the wholesale power cost adjustment implemented in February will likely be in effect all of this year.
• Supply chain issues and delays of materials needed to maintain the power grid and for operations are also driving up our operating costs. For example: in the past few years, the cost of transformers has increased by 50 percent, meters by 98 percent, power lines by 80 percent, power poles by 20 percent and line trucks by 20 percent. Suppliers tell us this will continue
to be an issue and costs will continue to climb.
• North Carolina’s energy policy, which was signed into law last year, will add significant costs over the next 10 years. The law es tablishes a carbon reduction target of 70 percent by 2030-2032 and is aimed primarily at Duke Energy’s generation resources. It will be extremely important to manage the pace of change to ensure that we consider reliability and affordability as we pursue an aggressive carbon reduction plan for North Carolina.
We know the impact of rising costs in every sector of the economy is difficult. One of the ways we help is through our Members Foundation and Operation Round Up. This winter, we’ve worked hard to raise additional funds so that we can distribute more crisis heating assistance. Members and employees support this program as well as our subsidiary companies who gave a total of $75,000 this year. This has helped many more homes stay warm this winter.
Rising costs will affect your cooperative and our country for the foreseeable future but our commitment to you, our members, is that we will do everything possible to manage this challenging situation while providing the best reliability and member service you deserve. Even in a rising costs environment, we’re committed to the cooperative principle of keeping your bill as low as possible and providing value to the communities we serve.
Annual Membership Meeting plans underway: director election kits coming in late May
As a cooperative, Blue Ridge Energy’s Board of Directors is made up of members who represent the entire membership. Each year, Blue Ridge members vote on and elect candidates for four open seats, one in each of the cooperative’s directorate districts: Caldwell, Watauga, Ashe and Alleghany.
Director Election kits will be sent to members on May 24 by mail, or by email if signed up for this option by April 17 at blueridgeenergy.com/company/ board-governance/directors-kit. Members can vote for director candidates online or by mail during this year’s voting period of May 24 through June 14. Members may vote, or change their previous online or mail vote, if attending the cooperative’s annual meeting in-person. The annual meeting will be held June 22 at 4 p.m. at the corporate headquarters in Lenoir.
If voting by mail, the proxy must be signed by the member with their choices clearly marked and received in the enclosed postage-paid envelope no later than 5 p.m. on Wednesday, June 14, 2023. To comply with proper election management procedures, the form cannot be given to an employee or accepted at any Blue Ridge office.
To ensure the integrity of director elections, Survey and Ballot Systems, an independent election administrator, was approved by the Credentials and Election Committee in December 2022 (committee members’ names are available at BlueRidgeEnergy.com). This committee is comprised of members from across the cooperative’s service area and is responsible for ensuring director elections are properly conducted, including certifying election results.
Director election kits will be sent to members on May 24. Included will be:
• biographical information for all candidates
• proxy with instructions on how members can vote for candidates in all districts by using one of two options: online or by returning the proxy provided in the kit that includes a postage paid return envelope
• or, if signed up for the email director election kit, you will receive a link in the email to easily vote online
PURPA written comments and hearing notice
Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corporation d/b/a Blue Ridge Energy will receive written comments and subsequently hold a public hearing on Thursday, October 26, 2023, to consider the written comments received as part of its overall consideration and determination process with respect to adoption of the new standards set forth in the Public Utility Regulatory Policy Act (PURPA) 111(d) included in the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA).
The IIJA requires cooperatives, municipal utilities, and state regulators to consider adopting s tandards on promoting greater transportation electrification (Sec. 40431) and utility demand response (Sec. 40104).
The written comments will be received through a portal on the Blue Ridge Energy website. The portal will open for comments
on June 1, 2023, at 8:00 a.m. (EDT) and will close on July 17, 2023, at 5:00 p.m. (EDT).
The hearing will be held at 1:00 p.m. (EDT) at Blue Ridge Energy’s corporate office at 1216 Blowing Rock Blvd., Lenoir. Anyone desiring to attend the hearing, will need to pre-register to attend. Registration information will be available on the Blue Ridge Energy website.
A decision whether to implement each standard will be made on or before November 15, 2023, after considering the written comments received as well as Blue Ridge Energy’s studies regarding these two issues. The decisions will be communicated in writing on Blue Ridge Energy’s website no later than November 15, 2023.
Visit BlueRidgeEnergy.com for more information.