2018 November NAEC Arkansas Living Center Pages

north arkansas electric cooperative edition

Sole Power Project gives shoes to third-graders North Arkansas Electric Cooperative employees delivered athletic shoes to thirdgraders in October.

The Sole Power Project began five years ago as a way to help children in area public schools and demonstrate NAEC’s concern for community, which is one of the seven cooperative principles by which NAEC operates.

Students at the following school districts received new shoes: Calico Rock, Cave City, Cotter, Highland, Hillcrest, Izard County Consolidated, Mammoth Spring, Melbourne, Mountain Home, Norfork, Salem and Viola.

See NAEC’s Facebook page for more Sole Power Project photos.

Third-graders at Hackler Intermediate School in Mountain Home get new athletic shoes courtesy of NAEC.

Calico Rock Elementary School students get new athletic shoes Oct. 4.

NAEC lineman William Thompson helps deliver shoes to Cherokee Elementary School third-grade students Oct. 3.

Izard County Consolidated third-grade students receive new athletic shoes through NAEC’s Sole Power Project.

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NOVEMBER 2018

NORTH ARKANSAS ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE

App lets members pay bill, report outages and check electric usage NEXT wins $22.6 million in FCC auction

my co-op

NEXT, Powered by NAEC won $22.6 million through the Federal Communications Commission’s Connect America Fund Phase II auction in August. The funding will help NEXT bring gigabit internet and phone services to unserved rural areas.

“Rural residents of north central Arkansas deserve the benefits access to true broadband internet brings,” said Mel Coleman, CEO of North Arkansas Electric Cooperative, which owns NEXT. “NAEC worked for several years to ensure we not only could bid in the auction but also be in a position to get as much funding as possible.”

The Connect America Fund auction began as an FCC initiative to accelerate broadband access to areas that lack the infrastructure.

Telecommunications companies bid on areas based on Census block groups.

NEXT will receive $2,260,000 each year for 10 years to help build its fiber optic network. The company won 44 Census block groups in the auction. The 6,582 homes and businesses in those blocks currently have access to internet download speeds of less than 10 Mbps.

“The areas NEXT won are spread across NAEC’s territory,” Coleman said. “They include portions of Baxter, Fulton, Izard, Marion, Sharp and Stone counties.”

During the next few months, NEXT will complete the final FCC documentation necessary to start receiving funding in 2019.

NEXT began in parts of Baxter and Fulton counties. The NAEC Board of Directors approved in June the expansion of NEXT to all of NAEC’s service territory. Construction is set to begin in January and continue approximately five years until all NAEC members have access to NEXT.

With the NAEC Mobile App, members can pay their bill, report an outage and monitor their electric usage 24 hours a day.

The free app is compatible with both Apple® and Android® devices.

Log-in information is the same as the NAEC Member Account Portal at www. naeci.com.

If logging in for the first time, use your account number (found in top left of your statement) in the first field and the same account number minus the last three digits in the second field.

You can change your password and/ or create a user ID after logging in. If you have trouble accessing your account, please call 870-895-3221 during regular business hours for assistance. NAEC’s office is open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Our offices will be closed Thursday, Nov. 22, and Friday, Nov. 23.

In the event of an outage, call 870-895-3221 or use the NAEC app to report.

NORTH ARKANSAS ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE

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