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orangecoremc@myremc.coop GENERAL MANAGER/CEO
Matthew C. Deaton OFFICE HOURS
7 a.m.–5 p.m., Monday-Friday STREET ADDRESS
7133 N. State Road 337 Orleans, IN 47452 MAILING ADDRESS
P.O. Box 208, Orleans, IN 47452 EMERGENCY POWER OUTAGES
To report service interruptions, call: 812-865-2229 or 888-337-5900, day or night. Please have the phone number associated with your account ready when reporting outages. Please limit after hours calls to emergencies and outage situations. BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Eugene Roberts, DISTRICT 1 Randy Roberts, DISTRICT 2 Danny Easterday, DISTRICT 3 Rodney Hager, DISTRICT 4 Ben Lindsey, DISTRICT 5 Brian Hawkins, DISTRICT 6 George Key, DISTRICT 7 REMC KEY STAFF
Marty Frank, OPERATIONS MANAGER Marcy Bennett, OFFICE MANAGER Larry Pinnick, MATERIALS MANAGER Michael Roberts, STAKING ENGINEER Misty Tincher, ACCOUNTANT Billy Chastain, STAKING ENGINEER AIDE Mark Belcher, MARKETING/MEMBER SERVICES MEMBER SERVICES
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Your co-op is working for you As I contemplate what to share with the membership this month, I realize that there are many, many moving parts that affect your cooperative. Initiatives at the federal, state and local levels MATTHEW C. are working to either augment or hinder our core misDEATON sion of providing safe, reliable and affordable electricity. New regulation including the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS), Clean Power Plan, Waters of the United States, Broadband Ready Communities, Rural Broadband: SB469 and Service Territory Preservation Act: SB 309 all will impact business going forward. Orange County REMC is engaged with our cooperative counterparts that represent us at these levels and will relay specific impacts as the changes become permanent. Specific to the Clean Power Plan, the price of electricity will be impacted according to our national cooperative organization’s analysis. Although not consistent, an average of a 10 percent increase could occur based on the fact that income of co-op consumers is, on average, 12 percent lower than the median national income used by the EPA to consider cost impacts. I find it unacceptable to use phrases like “could occur,” but unfortunately, that is the dynamic these initiatives take. The same day the White House announced the final Clean Power Plan, Gov. Mike Pence issued a statement saying, “When it comes to energy policy, this administration continues to place its environmental
ELECTRIC CONSUMER • SEPTEMBER 2015 • ElectricConsumer.org
agenda ahead of the interests of Hoosier ratepayers, jobs and the economy. Here in Indiana, homeowners and businesses rely on coal-burning power plants for low-cost, reliable energy. Yet little to no consideration was given to states like ours throughout the development of the EPA’s final rule, and that is simply not acceptable.” We must wait and see together just how this final regulation will play out. There are many good people staying upto-date on these and numerous other issues I can assure you. Locally, the REMC team is working to refine policies and procedures to enhance your interaction with us. Team members are working hard on a project that integrates all of our existing business systems allowing a much greater percentage of automation and less manual input of information. I will say that, regardless of what is going on with the politics in Washington, D.C., or Indianapolis, Orange County REMC is here to carry out our job the best we can. We continue to plan and execute a long-term construction work plan, looking into the future the best we can. We continue to provide great member services, such as time-of-use rates, pre-paid accounts and many energy efficiency programs. I encourage the learning of new ways of doing business and appreciate your feedback along the way. In all we do, we have the common theme in mind, making the member experience better. MATTHEW C. DEATON is general manager/CEO of Orange County REMC.