Tombigbee Electric Cooperative Board of Trustees Jim McRae Chair
David Collins
Manager’s Comments
Change Steve Foshee Manager of Tombigbee EC
Vice-Chair
Curt Morris
Secretary Treasurer
Terry Gosa Dennis Harbor William T. Hulsey Chad Williams Sheila Gunter Warren Williford
Visit our website www.tombigbee.org
Headquarters: P.O. Box 610 Guin, AL 35563 205.468.3325
There are a lot of things going on at your utility these days. It is that way with most businesses and certainly is true in our daily lives. These days it seems that we are in a constant state of change. While some changes are good, others are not. As we all know from experience, a lot of change will take place on a national stage due to the presidential election. The least of the changes that will occur is the answer to the question of what our country will do with climate change. A more challenging question may be to ask if the climate change is real. Many in our country choose to believe that there is a climate crisis based solely upon what they’ve been told or have been led to believe. On a personal note, I will admit that I have doubts on the change in climate being a reality. What is certain, however, is that government regulations have doubled and that has and will continue to require massive amounts of money to be spent on generation plants. You might wonder where our industry gets the money to pay for regulations. It comes from all rate payers. One might ask if coal will eventually be outlawed due to climate change regulations. We do not know for certain but do understand that all other options are much more expensive to consider. Due to these regulations, rates will be going up next year in January of 2013. How much the rates will increase is still being worked on through negotiations
with our generation supplier. We have been very proud that for four years we have absorbed the wholesale rate increases by cutting costs, but there are no more savings to be found and there is a large increase that is likely going to be passed on to us. All of this is due to regulation changes and the money that will be required to be spent to meet those requirements. Unfortunately for us, output from regulations are only a part of the change. Health, pension, supplier and other costs are all increasing -- just as costs to feed and take care of your families have also risen. I have never seen more challenges but we are developing a detailed plan to address them. Next month we will publish highlights of our plan and encourage you to read it over. On a different note, the weather for 2012 has certainly been a benefit for you from a power cost standpoint. Other than June and some of July, it has been mild all year, however the storms that we encountered over the summer did challenge us . There are other changes going on behind the scenes to help us deliver services to you. From computer systems, software, telephone systems and much more. Some to help us deliver services better while others to help us comply with more regulatory changes. If we can help you by answering any questions please let us know. We are here for you. A sfoshee@tombigbee.org
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