A MONTHLY NEWSLETTER FROM BLUE RIDGE ENERGY
matters MEMBERSHIP
October 2019
Great news for members:
Refunds coming soon! Members will receive bill credits on their November and December bills totaling $7 million for the entire membership! The refunds are possible due primarily to lower wholesale power cost and Beat The Peak efforts by the cooperative and members (look for more details in The Perspective on the next page).
be around $40 for November and December bills. That’s a total of $80 for two months. There’s even more good news! If our wholesale power projections for savings through the end of 2019 hold true, your cooperative will also be able to pass along another refund in the first quarter of 2020! “We are always pleased to be able to pass along savings to our members,” said Chief Executive Officer Doug Johnson. “As an electric cooperative, we’re not in business to make a profit, but rather to provide service at the lowest possible cost to members,” he explained.
The average residential member using 1,000 kilowatthours of electricity each month will receive about a $40 credit on both their November and December bills!
For the average member using 1,000 kilowatthours of electricity each month, the bill credit will
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From Blue Ridge CEO Doug Johnson
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Refunds coming to members! I’m very excited to announce to members that your cooperative will be issuing bill credits totaling $7 million on November and December bills! For the typical member, that means around a $40 credit on each of those bills. This member refund is possible due to a variety of factors explained below. First, your cooperative received lower-than-projected wholesale power cost from Duke Energy Carolinas this year. There are several reasons for this, including the current lower cost of natural gas, which is used to generate about 20 percent of our needs. Wholesale power cost makes up almost 60 percent of our costs, so this made a significant impact. Secondly, your cooperative received funds from Duke Energy due to two governmental changes: state and federal income tax reductions as well as additional savings related to a ruling by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission regarding Duke’s accounting for regulatory assets.
Thirdly, your cooperative’s load control efforts have helped control and reduce wholesale power cost. These include our Beat The Peak program in which members voluntarily partner with us to reduce use of electricity during periods of the highest demand when wholesale power is at its highest price. Finally, coal ash costs in 2018 were lower than budgeted, and we received a refund of the favorable projected versus actual amount. All together, these factors provide a significant opportunity for Blue Ridge Energy to refund these dollars back to our members! There’s even more good news! If our projections for continued lower wholesale power cost hold true through the end of 2019, we will be able to give members another refund in the first quarter of 2020! This is yet another reason why it’s good to be a member of your electric cooperative: any monies received above our operating needs get returned to you, our members! We hope you enjoy the coming refunds!
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Community Solar rate reduced With the addition of a fifth community solar garden, the cooperative has been able to reduce the subscription rate for ALL community solar subscribers. The new rate, which began in September, has been reduced from $4.50 to $3.75 per panel. Also known as “shared solar” because multiple members sign up to subscribe to one or more panels, community solar gardens are popular with those wanting to support renewable energy without the upfront cost or demands of maintaining their own rooftop solar array. It also offers an option for members with rooftop shading and orientation issues as well as renters who wish to support renewable energy. Additionally, participants can start or stop participation at any time. To learn more or sign up for community solar, visit BlueRidgeEnergy.com/solar or call 828-572-6062.
Get ahead of winter heating bills with these fall tips! Doors and Windows. Wind and drafts are more common during the cold months. Now is the time to seal holes and gaps around exterior doors and windows. Use a door threshold to keep your heat in. Drapes and Blinds. Open drapes and blinds and take advantage of sunlight to warm your home. At night, close the drapes and blinds to create an extra barrier to prevent drafts. Update Your Thermostat. There are a lot of smart and programmable thermostats on the market. When leaving home, set your thermostat to lower the heat a few degrees. Once you return or shortly before you return, allow the heating system to recover to around 68 degrees Fahrenheit. Finally, consider an Energy SAVER Loan from Blue Ridge Energy to make your energy efficient projects more affordable! Learn more at BlueRidgeEnergy.com/solutions. MEMBERSHIP matters
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Changing: Renewable energy charge The NC REPS charge on your bill is increasing beginning on October bills. This charge is for the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Portfolio Standard law passed by the 2007 North Carolina General Assembly. It requires all utilities to generate and distribute more electricity from renewable resources and to encourage energy efficiency by their consumers. Members will see the following changes: the residential fee will move from 44 cents to $1.03; the commercial fee will move from $2.44 to $5.95 and the industrial fee will move from: $16.33 to $37.39. Your cooperative has coordinated with its wholesale power supplier to meet
NC REPS in the most efficient manner possible. Currently, 10 percent of Blue Ridge Energy’s electricity consumed by its members is now produced from renewable resources. (This is in addition to the cooperative’s community solar production). Expenses to comply with the NC REPS law fluctuates annually according to renewable and energy efficiency projects by wholesale power providers. Increases this year are coming primarily from our provider’s new swine and poultry renewable energy projects, which are required under NC REPS to be part of the renewable energy resource mix. Page 23
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Blue Ridge line technician excels in contest With a time of 01:37.8, Watauga Line Technician Austin Story recently placed 2nd in North Carolina Electric Cooperative’s statewide Pole Top Rescue Competition in Raleigh. During the competition, each line worker must execute a scenario that finds a fellow worker unconscious atop a utility pole. Each competitor, dressed in full climbing gear, must radio for help,
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER EDITOR
Reneé R. Whitener
PRODUCTION SUPERVISOR Susan Simmons
DISTRICT OFFICES Caldwell Watauga Ashe Alleghany Wilkes PowerLine®
(828) 754-9071 (828) 264-8894 (336) 846-7138 (336) 372-4646 (800) 451-5474 (800) 448-2383
Toll Free
(800) 451-5474
(PowerLine® is an automated account information and outage reporting system.)
(for members outside of the service area.)
To report an outage at any time, call one of the numbers listed above. 8:30 am - 5:00 pm, Monday-Friday Night deposit available. Visit us on the web: BlueRidgeEnergy.com +
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All electric cooperative line workers must train in this scenario, which must be completed in less than five minutes to maintain certification as a North Carolina line tech. Congratulations to Austin and all the line technicians who keep safety in mind every day!
Protect yourself from online tricks
Doug Johnson
OFFICE HOURS:
scale 20 feet up the pole, lower a 105-pound mannequin and begin lifesaving procedures.
While we often associate October with spooky treats, it’s also National Cybersecurity Month, a time to focus on the very real tricks posed by online scammers. Here are four simple ways you can protect yourself and others: • Be a password pro. Create strong passwords that use a combination of letters, numbers and symbols, and change them regularly. Don’t use the same password for all your accounts or share your passwords.
• Click with caution. Hold your cursor over links in an email to view their full address before clicking, even if the email was sent by someone you know. If the link looks suspicious, contact the sender to verify the link before clicking. When in doubt, play it safe and delete it. • Share with care. Be careful how much personal information you share online, and enable privacy settings on social media networks to limit who can see what you share. Be aware that your posts may inadvertently be sharing personal details about yourself or others when posting photos or videos.
• Stay up to date. Keep the operating system, browser and security software on all your Internet-connected devices updated to protect against known vulnerabilities. Learn more at staysafeonline.org.
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MEMBERSHIP matters
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