NEWS FROM YOUR COOPERATI www.myremc.coop CONTACT US OFFICE
812-865-2229 888-337-5900 BILL PAYMENTS 855-865-2229 TOLL FREE
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: 1-855-797-7855 4
Learning the cooperative principl Seven principles give all co-ops guidance – promotion of education is one! One of my favorite bumper stickers is, “If you can read this, thank a teacher.” The importance of education was drilled into me from my earliest memories. It is no accident that we educate children from a very DANNY L. early age while their young ARNOLD minds are still dry sponges willing to absorb so much. The original seven co-op principles set forth in 1844 contained the simple phrase, “promotion of education.” Today, principle five states that all co-ops should promote “education, training and information.” This is intended for the employees, members and the community at large. It is based on the simple premise that if people know more about the cooperative business model, they will be in a much better position to understand the benefits and promote better use of the co-op and its resources. While there are almost 1 million people in the U.S. that work for cooperatives of all types (agriculture, housing, credit unions and many others in addition to electric co-ops) very few of us learn about cooperatives in school. That creates a real challenge when trying to explain the cooperative difference. People understand an investor-owned business is designed to make a profit or that a non-profit, like the Red Cross, is designed to serve the community. Electric cooperatives, like Orange County REMC, have both an economic and social purpose. We operate on a notfor-profit basis so that we can pass along the best price for our goods and services to you, the member–owner. Due to the fact that the cooperative business model is normally not taught by teachers, it is up to us at REMC to ensure that you know about the differences and benefits of being a co-op member through publications like this one. Consumer surveys by Touchstone Energy® and others
ELECTRIC CONSUMER • NOVEMBER 2014 • ElectricConsumer.org
consistently affirm that people prefer to do business with a cooperative if given a choice. So why don’t they teach about co-ops in school? There are several theories about this including that there is not enough academic research about cooperatives, which is often the source for curriculums. Another reason offered is that the co-op community is so diverse that teaching about it only creates more confusion. The first issue about research is being addressed just a few miles up the highway by the Cooperative Business Research Institute at Indiana University. The second issue can be addressed by answering the age old question: “How do you eat an elephant?” Answer: “One bite