Blackouts: What you need to know

Electricity is not a luxury anymore. When the lights go out, people can suffer immensely. As a not-for-profit electric cooperative, it is our mission to provide reliable and affordable power to our members. That becomes increasingly di cult when our hands are tied on generation, or we are restricted operationally by state or federal politics. According to the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), the “disorderly retirement” of existing power plants is directly impacting reliability.

We are not here to debate the pros and cons of coal, or expound on the benefits and drawbacks of renewables. We are here to share the facts with you, our members, and the facts are, you should prepare yourself for a blackout.

A blackout is usually required when the demand for electricity exceeds the capability to either transmit or produce that amount of power. Additionally, electricity is more expensive during times when a lot of people are using it. This is why you may have seen some of our calls to limit use during high peak times. If we can keep our high usage peaks low, then we are charged less (and it helps the grid).

As President/CEO Ed VanHoose stated at the annual meeting, for the first time in his career he is recommending all members look into purchasing generators for their personal home use. At the time of this article, we still do not have any recommendations on a type or brand. It depends on your house size, use, and even what you want to keep powered during a blackout.

We recently rolled out a new video series called “Ed Talks,” in which Ed will speak about different aspects of electricity. In his first series, he discusses some of the regulatory and legislative issues currently affecting the reliability and affordability of our electric. To watch the first video visit: www.youtube.com/watch?v=diNzlTHkY8g.

To sign up for the newsletter and never miss an episode of this new series, please sign up for our monthly newsletter, Between the Lines, here: https://bit.ly/BTL-NCE

Please know that your not-for-profit electric cooperative is continuing to fight for our members in order to achieve our Mission and Vision:

Mission Statement — To provide our member-owners with highly reliable electric service, superior service, and innovative energy solutions at competitive prices.

Vision Statement — That the member-owners of the Cooperative benefit from highly reliable electric service, superior service, and innovative energy solutions — all provided at fair and competitive prices by the e cient cooperative they own, control, and trust.