NEWS FROM YOUR COOPERATI www.myremc.coop CONTACT US OFFICE
812-865-2229 TOLL FREE 888-337-5900 BILL PAYMENTS 855-865-2229 CONTACT US BY EMAIL
orangecoremc@myremc.coop GENERAL MANAGER/CEO
Danny L. Arnold 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
•Free energy analysis •Budget billing •Automatic payments •Security lights •Home security systems •Medical emergency monitoring •Air evac life team •Water heater and HVAC incentives (requires an EM switch) •Online bill payment options •Interactive Voice Response system . for payments and account inquiries via phone: 1-855-865-2229 •VISA, MasterCard and Discover accepted •Exede Internet - 855-797-7855 4
Electricity remains a good value As Christmas approaches and you start to plan your holiday purchases, take a little time to consider the “value” (not the price) of your daily purchases. In today’s world, you won’t find many items that cost DANNY L. less than $5. You can purARNOLD chase a Starbucks coffee, a pound of ground round, or a Big Mac® meal from McDonald’s and get a little change back from your five. But did you know that an average day’s worth of electricity costs less than $5? Even in our country’s shifting energy climate, electricity remains a good value. In fact, for the average Orange County REMC member, electricity has the lowest cost per day of any of the items listed above. And none of those items are necessary for daily life! As general manager/CEO of Orange County REMC, I urge you to think about your daily necessities (electricity and gasoline, to name a couple), and then think about the cost of the special treats you allow yourself to purchase on a weekly basis (maybe even on a daily basis for some items!). We don’t often question the cost of a Big Mac® meal — but it costs over $1 more to buy a Big Mac® meal than it does to purchase a day’s worth of power. And yet, we frequently become upset if our electricity rates rise. At this REMC we have been fortunate to keep rates stable since October 2011; and at present it appears we will not need to consider a change in base rates until sometime in 2016 at the earliest. There are numerous factors helping us control rates including stable wholesale power cost and low interest rates. But just as important is membership participation in our energy management program (currently, nearly 1,500 switches are in place) and the very positive response to our optional time-of-use rate option (over 300 new participants in 2014). Both of these programs allow individual members to
ELECTRIC CONSUMER • DECEMBER 2014 • ElectricConsumer.org
do their part to reduce peak demand on our system which lowers REMC’s wholesale power cost, which in turn reduces the amount we have to charge for electricity. It makes sense to work together to control energy costs; we have become increasingly reliant upon electricity. Electricity has, for many of us, gone from a luxury commodity to a necessity and an expectation. You expect the lights to come on when you flip the switch, and you expect your power to stay on during even the worst conditions. How else would you keep your food fresh, your homes cool in the summer and warm in the winter? It is easy to cut a Big Mac® out of your spending routine here and there to save a few dollars. But you cannot simply cut electricity out of your budget if times get tough or you decide that you want to scale back your spending in order to save. Perhaps that is why it is so upsetting to us when our rates increase, even if only in small increments. It is nearly impossible for us to think about what our lives would be like if we did not have electricity. If at times it doesn’t seem that electricity is affordable, remember — even as the demand for electricity has grown — our rate increases have remained low, especially when compared to other consumer goods such as medical care, education, gasoline and, yes, even Big Macs®. Electricity is still a great bargain. And also remember this: as the general manager/CEO of your local electric cooperative for the past 23 years, I and our entire workforce have been committed to making sure that you and your family always have safe, reliable and affordable electric service in your home. So as you plan your Christmas purchases and you crave a Big Mac®, remember your electric bill, and think about what a great deal you’re getting for your dollar! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all! DANNY L. ARNOLD is general manager/CEO of Orange County REMC.