Oklahoma Cooperative Chooses Not to Suspend Service for Nonpayment
Posted on Aug 3, 2011
In light of high temperatures into the foreseeable future, Oklahoma Electric Cooperative, which has 10,000 customers in Norman, Oklahoma, has decided that it will not suspend service to customers due to nonpayment. The Norman Transcript has additional details.
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Vermont Electric Coop Wins POWER Magazine Smart Grid Award
Posted on Aug 2, 2011
Vermont Electric Cooperative (VEC) was recognized as the winner of the inaugural POWER Smart Grid Award. Among other smart grid technologies, VEC has implemented bidirectional meters, a new GPS-enabled outage management system, substation upgrades, and online access to electricity usage information. These efforts have cut outages in the VEC territory in half. They have also reduced outage time and improved customers’ understanding of their monthly bills. This article describes VEC’s efforts in more detail.
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Tenth Circuit Reinstates Coop Lawsuit Against Municipality
Posted on Aug 2, 2011
An appeals court decision handed down last Friday could have important implications in the competition between municipal utilities and rural electric cooperatives. The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Kay Electric Cooperative can sue the City of Newkirk, Oklahoma, for allegedly violating the federal antitrust law in a fight over which electrical utility can serve the new Kay County jail. The decision reinstates a lawsuit dismissed by U.S. District Judge Robin Cauthron in Oklahoma City last August. The city annexed the jail site and would not provide sewage service unless the...
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Barnstable County Seeks Information from Cape and Vineyard Electric Cooperative
Posted on Aug 1, 2011
The Barnstable County Assembly of Delegates, the county’s legislative branch, will have to retake a vote to look into the Cape and Vineyard Electric Cooperative (CVEC) after the county’s legal counsel explained that the earlier vote was not binding because it was not a true majority vote. The assembly wants to form a special panel to specifically investigate CVEC’s administrative structure and funding sources. The county’s legal counsel has also asserted that neither the assembly nor the county commissioners have any direct authority over CVEC, based in Massachusetts, or its parent...
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Egyptian Electric Cooperative Association Members Warned of Rate Hike
Posted on Aug 1, 2011
At the annual meeting last Thursday, Illinois-based Egyptian Electric Cooperative Association Board President Paul Pyatt and Executive Vice President/General Manager Jim Riddle explained that a rate increase likely would occur when Prairie State Energy Campus comes online. The new energy campus will help provide energy for a load that Pyatt and Riddle say has almost doubled in the last 25 years. Although the exact amount of the rate increase is not clear, Riddle told members that current projections show an increase of about 15-17 percent in 2012 over 2011 rates and then back down to about...
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New Mexico Electric Cooperative Strives to Comply with Sunshine Laws
Posted on Aug 1, 2011
For the second time this month, Socorro Electric Cooperative’s board of trustees held a meeting in an effort to comply with a revised set of bylaws that require the coop to follow sunshine laws. The board is having difficulty giving final approval on changes to their policies affected by the bylaw changes due to the lack of recording the outcome of votes during past meetings. To read more about the coop’s efforts at reform, click here.
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Vermont Public Service Board Considers Privacy Implications of Smart Grid Technology
Posted on Jul 29, 2011
As utilities in Vermont continue to implement various smart grid programs, the Vermont Public Service Board is evaluating the potential for both use and misuse of customer data. The CEO of the Vermont Electric Cooperative, David Hallquist, is focusing on cybersecurity, in particular, as the coop grows its smart grid program. Vermont Public Radio has been covering this story.
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Nueces Electric Cooperative Prepares for Tropical Storm Don
Posted on Jul 29, 2011
As the storm approaches south Texas, Nueces Electric Cooperative is implementing its Emergency Response Plan. The coop’s plan includes organizing the resources that may be necessary for repairs and prioritizing which transmission lines and substations should be serviced first. TEC Crisis Communications has more on this story.
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Homer Electric Association Positioned to Buy Power Plant
Posted on Jul 28, 2011
Through its subsidiary Alaska Electric and Energy Cooperative, the Homer Electric Association (HEA) plans to purchase the Bernice Lake Power Plant with a generation capacity of roughly 69.9 MW for $11.8 million. The deal is conditioned on obtaining Regulatory Commission of Alaska approval to amortize the purchase price over several years. The plant is currently owned by the Chugach Electric Association and, if purchased, would provide peaking and reserve power to the HEA system. Read more.
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Carroll Electric Responds to Members’ Complaint
Posted on Jul 28, 2011
Carroll Electric Cooperative Corporation issued a statement Tuesday in response to a July 19 complaint filed with the Arkansas Public Service Commission by cooperative members. Among other matters addressed in the complaint, members requested increased transparency and democratic governance of the coop. In its statement, Carroll Electric pointed to a May survey as evidence of member satisfaction with the coop’s current business practices. The statement also addressed patronage capital and board member elections and compensation. Carroll County News has the full story.
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Brewster Wind Turbine Power Purchase Approved
Posted on Jul 27, 2011
The City of Brewster’s purchase of power from Cape and Vineyard Electric Cooperative has been approved. Brewster will purchase power from two CVEC 1.8MW municipal wind turbines. This approval was required for CVEC to seek an exemption from the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities from town zoning laws. The Cape Cod Times has more on this story here. Also, background on the permitting can be found here.
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Vermont Electric Cooperative Approves Line Upgrade Also Necessary for Lowell Wind Project
Posted on Jul 27, 2011
In an effort to save money for a $12 million upgrade to a 16.9-mile transmission line, members of Vermont Electric Cooperative Inc. approved sharing a transmission line with a wind energy project being developed by Green Mountain Power Corp. in Lowell, Massachusetts. Green Mountain Power agreed to pay $7 million of the upgrade costs (leaving VEC with $5 million of the upgrade costs). The Burlington Free Press has the full story.
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SWEPCO Settles With Arkansas Landowners in Coal Plant Suit
Posted on Jul 26, 2011
Louisiana-based Southwestern Electric Power Co. (SWEPCO) has reached a settlement with landowners opposing the construction of its $2 billion, 600-megawatt, coal-fired plant in Arkansas. The confidential settlement means that legal challenges by area landowners to the plant’s air and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permits have been dropped. This is only part of the battle for SWEPCO, however, as the Sierra Club and Audubon Arkansas continue to challenge the project in federal court. For more details on this settlement and the status of the construction, click here.
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Copper Thefts on the Rise, New Laws May Result in New Hampshire
Posted on Jul 25, 2011
New Hampshire may adopt a new law that would require salvage businesses, such as scrap metal companies, to obtain driver’s license information from anyone attempting to sell copper. Copper thefts are on the rise in New Hampshire, and three separate incidents occurred in the last five weeks. State-level oversight would promote uniformity because current local ordinances (if any) vary on the subject. Click here for details.
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