A Montana electric cooperative is finding ways to help its consumer-members take advantage of energy-efficiency programs, and the results are paying off with dramatic load reductions.

Flathead Electric Cooperative is advertising its energy-efficiency programs with an advertising wrap posted on a public bus. (Photo By: Flathead EC)

Kalispell-based Flathead Electric Cooperative is using a combination of tiered rates, a co-op-supported loan program for efficiency projects for commercial and industrial accounts, and residential efficiency initiatives to help control energy demand.

“In 2011, Flathead acquired more than 2 average megawatts of efficiency—an increase of over 40 percent from the previous year,” said Karen Meadows, acting vice president of Bonneville Power Administration. “They have pursued nearly every efficiency opportunity available in all conservation sectors and are adding more programs in 2012, when many of their peers are cutting back.”

BPA presented the co-op with its Excellence in Energy Efficiency award for 2012 for running effective programs and promoting them with a marketing program that’s consistently kept both members and commercial account holders asking how they can get involved.

“Flathead has pursued a unique marketing effort featuring a ‘gang’ of Flathead Electric energy efficiency employees packing caulking guns, spray foam cans, and CFLs, and making you an offer you can’t refuse,” Meadows said. “This campaign used television placement and public transportation to reach a difficult-to-access rural population.”

The co-op purchased all the advertising available on one of the Kalispell County transit agency’s buses and turned the exterior into a rolling billboard for its energy efficiency programs.

“We have tried to provide incentive programs that apply to just about every account on our system,” said Ross Holter, Flathead EC’s energy services supervisor. “Many times we start out with a free energy audit. Then we have programs that can lead to installation of new windows, Energy Star appliances, new efficient water heaters and ductless heat pumps.”

Flathead Electric Cooperative staffers show off the Excellence in Energy Efficiency award received from the Bonneville Power Administration. (Photo By: Flathead EC)

Many consumer-members use a co-op-sponsored low interest loan program to make efficiency improvements and make modest payments when they pay their monthly electric bills. BPA officials noted that the co-op’s strategy has been an effective way of reaching rural members.

“Flathead Electric has always maintained high standards when it comes to energy efficiency,” said Cheryl Talley, the co-op’s director of energy and member services. “The validation of our efforts from BPA will serve to motivate us even further.”

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The U.S. Senate has confirmed two nominees to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

John Norris

The approvals of President Obama’s picks—John Norris, who already sits on FERC, and Tony Clark, who currently chairs the North Dakota Public Service Commission—came without debate May 24.

Norris, who joined the commission in January 2010 for a term that expires June 30, 2012, was approved for a full five-year term, while Clark will serve the remainder of a term that expires June 30, 2016.

The North Dakotan’s arrival will return FERC to its full five-member complement, following the departure of Commissioner Marc Spitzer in mid-December.

With Norris returning and Clark coming on board, the regulatory panel will include three Democrats—Chairman Jon Wellinghoff, Cheryl LaFleur and Norris—and two Republicans, Phillip Moeller and Clark.

NRECA applauded the Senate’s action. “We have a good working relationship with Commissioner Norris and his staff,” noted Rich Meyer, the association’s senior regulatory counsel.

Tony Clark

“Chairman Clark is an experienced pick from a state where there is a strong electric co-op presence,” he added.

NRECA CEO Glenn English sounded a similar note at the time of Clark’s nomination. In North Dakota, and during a term as president of the state utility regulators’ national trade association, English noted,  “Tony has demonstrated that he understands the challenges electric cooperatives and other utilities are facing today.”

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On a recent trip home from a family gathering in Boaz, Ala., where I grew up, I passed a vacant lot where Needmore Grocery used to be. More memories of the “good ol’ days” came flooding back as I remembered selling watermelons from my daddy’s patch under the pecan tree near the store and sitting around a pot-bellied stove eating parched peanuts.

Phillip Burgess

I recalled the serious discussions local farmers had when they routinely “held court” there to discuss politics, cotton and corn prices and football.

Those were simpler times.

Today, our world is much, much different. The country store has been replaced by super centers where you can buy your groceries, get your eyes checked and do your banking business, all at the same place. Few young people have ever sat under a shade tree and sold a watermelon or two for a dollar apiece.

And instead of gathering around a pot-bellied stove at the store to discuss the issues of the day, many folks now communicate in small bites on Twitter or on Facebook.

Electric cooperatives are not immune to our changing world, either. Back in the “good ol’ days” there were less politics, technology and regulations to deal with on a daily basis. Today, your local electric cooperative operates in one of the most complicated, rapidly changing industries in the world.

Yes, there are still lines, poles and substations. But there’s much more. How about fuel cost adjustments, smart meters, automated meter reading, outage management, energy efficiency, demand response and time of use rates?

For the average consumer, this new energy landscape is very confusing. It could even make one long for the “good ol’ days.”

But today, we can’t afford to be without electricity. Our reliance upon it means that your electric cooperative is working hard to embrace the new emerging technologies in a way that is effective and efficient.

At the same time, regulations affecting how an electric utility operates are being considered and approved at a rapid pace.

Finding an appropriate balance between protecting the environment, guaranteeing a reliable supply of power and keeping electric bills affordable amid all these changes is critical. No, it’s essential.

Please rest assured that the nation’s electric cooperatives aren’t living in the “good ol’ days.” It may be a good place to visit, but living and working in this new technological age is where the focus is squarely placed.

 Phillip Burgess is communications and government relations director of the Tennessee Valley Public Power Association.

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Electric cooperatives say the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed carbon reduction standard deviates from the Obama administration’s “all of the above” energy pledge by eliminating coal as a fuel for new plants.

A new EPA rule would affect carbon emissions at coal-based plants to be built in the future. (Photo By: Basin Electric Power Cooperative)

At separate public hearings May 24 in Washington, D.C., and Chicago, co-op officials told the agency that its rule takes coal off the table as a future generation source, shows no benefits, and threatens to stymie research into carbon capture and storage technology.

“Losing the option to generate power from coal, which has historically stable costs compared to oil and gas, is a risk we should not be willing to take,” Craig Chrispell, an environmental specialist at Hoosier Energy, Bloomington, Ind., said at the Chicago hearing.

Speaking in Washington, Carol Whitman, NRECA senior principal, legislative affairs, said the rule pushes utilities toward natural gas generation, even though parts of the country lack the necessary transmission or infrastructure to handle it.

“This proposal completely ignores these siting impediments and instead focuses only on computer model-generated projections of future wholesale natural gas prices,” she said.

The rule, proposed March 27 under the Clean Air Act, would set the first national limits on carbon emissions from future fossil fuel-based plants. They would be subject to a cap of 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt-hour, about the level of a new combined-cycle natural gas plant.

President Obama emphasized an “all of the above” energy strategy in his State of the Union message earlier this year.

While the EPA has suggested employing carbon capture and storage could help new plants reduce emissions, Whitman said the agency’s rule could set back efforts to develop an affordable, commercially viable technology.

NRECA and several G&Ts have been working on the technology, but those investments are expensive and will trickle off if utilities have to devote their resources to meeting immediate new carbon caps.

“Thus, this rulemaking will destroy any reasonable opportunity to develop CCS technology in this country for domestic application or for exportation. For these reasons it should be withdrawn,” she said.

In addition to statements at the public hearings, NRECA and other co-ops plan to file extensive comments, which the agency said it will accept through June 25.

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Government meteorologists are predicting a “near normal” Atlantic hurricane season for 2012.

Tropical storms can develop into hurricanes, but they can also bring heavy rains and storm surge, causing flooding in coastal areas and inland. (Photo By: NOAA)

Citing atmospheric and ocean conditions, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said that nine to 15 named storms could develop over the course of the season, with four to eight reaching hurricane strength.

“NOAA’s outlook predicts a less active season compared to recent years,” said Jane Lubchenco, the agency’s administrator, during a May 24 news conference. “But regardless of the outlook, it’s vital for anyone living or vacationing in hurricane-prone locations to be prepared.”

The six-month Atlantic hurricane season runs June 1-Nov. 30, but it got off to an early start when Tropical Storm Alberto formed off the South Carolina coast, May 20. Currents carried the storm northeastward into the central Atlantic, where it dissipated without threatening land.

Near-average sea surface temperatures across much of the tropical Atlantic, strong wind shear and cooler sea surface temperatures in the eastern Atlantic were among factors cited in the NOAA forecast.

“Another potentially competing climate factor would be El Niño if it develops by late summer to early fall,” said Gerry Bell, lead seasonal hurricane forecaster at NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center. “In that case, conditions could be less conducive for hurricane formation and intensification during the peak months [August-October] of the season, possibly shifting the activity toward the lower end of the predicted range.”

Computer models used for forecasting have been upgraded for 2012. The Hurricane Weather Research and Forecasting model that will be used has demonstrated a 20 to 25 percent tracking improvement and a 15 percent improvement in intensity forecasts over a previous version, officials said. Physics upgrades in another forecasting model are also expected to produce more accurate intensity forecasts.

Of the four to eight storms expected to reach minimum hurricane strength of 74 mph, one to three will become major hurricanes with winds topping 111 mph, officials said.

In the past 30 years, an average of 12 named storms have developed in a typical hurricane season. NOAA did not predict how many of this year’s storms would make landfall.

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Michigan’s electric cooperatives have scored an important victory in resolving a state tax dispute that could have cost co-op members $2.8 million a year.

Michigan officials have let stand a tax calculation that recognizes electric co-ops serve farmland and sparsely populated parts of the state. (Photo By: iStockphoto)

The State Tax Commission (STC) voted earlier this month to continue using a series of economic calculations that affects the amount of personal property taxes co-ops pay.

For tax year 2013, the commission had threatened to discontinue the calculation, known as system economic factors, or SEFs. The SEFs recognize the unique challenges electric cooperatives face in serving sparsely populated, rural areas.

“Elimination of SEFs would raise personal property tax payments for Michigan’s electric co-ops by $2.8 million annually,” said Craig Borr, CEO of the Michigan Electric Cooperative Association.

Borr said that “would be passed on to member-consumers in the form of increased costs, even though absolutely nothing changed from 2011 to 2012.”

The commission announced in December 2011 that it would drop the economic factors.

But after a presentation from the statewide association and Tom Harrell, general manager of Alger Delta Electric Cooperative, the agency left the SEFs intact.

The factors allow local tax assessors to take into account the disadvantages of serving rural Michigan, such as lower sales and fewer customers per mile of line, compared to large, investor-owned utilities.

The system has been used since the 1960s to reach a fair and equitable determination of a co-op’s personal property value.

The State Tax Commission threatened to end SEFs in the late 1990s. However, the statewide association and Michigan co-ops successfully pushed for a law in 2002 that requires local assessors to consider the number of kilowatt-hours sold per mile of distribution line.

In addition to reinstating the SEFs for 2013, the STC voted to establish a workgroup that will serve as a bridge to Michigan’s electric co-ops, creating a process for establishing SEFs each year, co-op officials said.

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If there’s such a thing as a good time to go into cardiac arrest, G. Kelly Nuckols picked it.

G. Kelly Nuckols (left) and Paul Price at the ceremony where Price received Touchstone Energy’s Power and Hope Award. (Photo By: Tammy Simmons/KAEC)

His friend of 30 years, Paul Price, was at the same golf course with something in his truck that few carry around—a defibrillator, a device that, had it happened just a few weeks earlier, wouldn’t have been much help.

“I was on the practice tee just hitting a few balls and apparently had a heart attack right there, and fell to my knees,” said Nuckols, 64, president/CEO of Jackson Purchase Energy in Paducah, Ky.

“I was hitting a few wedges and heading back to the golf cart to get my driver. That’s the last thing I remember other than waking up in the emergency room some three hours later.”

BREATHE!

Price can fill in the blanks from that April 18 golf outing in Bowling Green with managers of Kentucky’s electric co-ops. He was in the clubhouse but knew something was up when he saw people running toward the practice tee.

An area marketing representative with United Utility Supply Cooperative, Inc., Price is a nationally registered emergency medical technician.

“Luckily, I thought enough to jump in my vehicle, because I knew I had all my medical equipment in my truck,” Price recalled. He drove around the corner and made a terrible discovery.

“I saw Kelly. He was lying on the ground,” Price said. Getting out of his truck he thought it was something minor.

“As I approached, I heard several people saying things like, ‘Breathe, Kelly, breathe!’”

Price quickly discovered that Nuckols had no pulse.

HELPING HANDS

Knowing he would need help, Price asked if anyone knew anything about emergency medicine, and a young man who’d been hitting golf balls stepped forward. Price sent him to get the defibrillator from his truck.

Paul Price with his personal defibrillator that he used to save the life of G. Kelly Nuckols. (Photo Courtesy of Paul Price)

“If you know they’ve been down less than four minutes, the priority is to go ahead and defibrillate first,” rather than perform CPR, Price said. “That first four minutes is a critical time.”

Price also pressed Greg Grissom into service. Grissom, president/CEO of Hickman-Fulton Counties RECC, was kneeling over Nuckols when Price arrived. Price had him rip off Nuckols’ shirt and shave a spot on his chest to attach the defibrillator pads.

“It takes about five to eight seconds for the defibrillator to do its thing. It seemed like an eternity,” Price said. “But I was thrilled when it came back and told me that we had a shockable rhythm. So we delivered his first shock about three minutes into his arrest. And I reached down and he had a pulse.”

Price then asked the young man who got the defibrillator to get him an oral airway, a curved piece of plastic inserted over the tongue, to create an air passage.

“He not only knew what to get out of my bag, but he handed me the right size out of about eight different sizes,” Price said, noting that the fellow later vanished, not waiting around to be thanked.

The situation calmed for about a minute until Nuckols again lost his pulse. Price said it was too soon to use the defibrillator again, so he opted for CPR. After two minutes, Price checked and the defibrillator again indicated there was a shockable rhythm.

“So we defibrillated Kelly a second time. And I felt down and actually had a better pulse than I had previously.” A few minutes later, EMS arrived.

“He’s a great, great guy,” Nuckols said of Price.

A TEACHABLE MOMENT

Price plans to incorporate the scenario of April 18 into the EMT class he teaches. And he sees it as his mission to make sure co-ops have defibrillators and people trained on their use.

“A lot of our linemen, a lot of our servicemen, most of them are healthy individuals, and most of them are young. And if they ever do have a contact injury and get electrocuted or shocked, they’re very resuscitatable,” Price said, adding that the new defibrillators are simple to use.

Nuckols believed in defibrillators long before his heart attack.

“Every one of our trucks has a defibrillator on it, and we have them at the office, as well,” Nuckols said. “And we have trained people. Our safety coordinator makes sure that at least once a year they go through their training. They check the battery. They know where it is.”

Indeed, the golf course could learn from Jackson Purchase Energy.

“They had a defibrillator in the pro shop. They didn’t know where it was,” Nuckols said. “Two days later when they found it, the battery was dead. If there’s a lesson to be learned it’s to put it in a conspicuous place, know where it is, check your battery and have people trained on it.”

As for Price, he spent $500 of his own money on his defibrillator five years ago. It was an older model that Southwest Airlines had replaced.

He had never used it, and about six weeks before Nuckols’ heart attack, the battery gave out. Faced with several other bills, for three weeks he put off spending the $120 for a new battery, until he came to a realization.

“A small voice inside my head said, ‘Suck it up. Either don’t carry the thing or keep it right.’”

Three weeks later, he saved Nuckols’ life.

On May 22, Price received the Touchstone Energy® Power and Hope Award, after being nominated by the Kentucky Association of Electric Cooperatives.

“I don’t know that I could live with myself if I would have rolled up and Kelly needed a defibrillator and I knew that the one in my truck didn’t have a battery.”

As for Nuckols, he’s recovering and the prognosis is good.

“The cardiac surgeon said, ‘You have another 25 years if you treat yourself well.’”

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Thanks to the smart thinking and big heart of a Florida electric cooperative meter reader, several baby owls are lucky to be alive.

These baby barn owls were saved by a meter reader after falling from a pine tree. (Photo By: Charlotte Loomis)

Several weeks ago, Bill Sauls of Keystone Heights, Fla.-based Clay Electric Cooperative was driving along his route when he heard a loud crash. Sauls discovered that a large pine tree had fallen. As he approached the tree, he noticed four baby barn owls had plummeted from their nest.

Sauls’ instincts took over as he intervened. “I couldn’t leave them there,” he said. “They would’ve been killed for sure.”

After investigating the area, Sauls found some neighbors nearby. He told them about the incident and they called Florida Wildlife Care, Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to the care and conservation of native wildlife and habitat in Florida.

“Barn owls are cavity nesting birds whose young fare best with the security and protection of an enclosed nest,” said Charlotte Loomis, a local owl conversation advocate. “They are extremely vulnerable to predators if they end up on the ground.”

On April 26, a representative from the nonprofit group traveled nearly an hour from its Gainesville, Fla., facility to pick up the owlets from the co-op for tests. Barn owls are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

Billy Sauls

Once the examinations were completed, three of the birds were determined to be injury-free and could be returned home the next day, said Leslie Straub, director of FWC. Straub then called Loomis to take the birds back home, and within 24 hours the owlets were placed in a large wooden nest box, which was attached to a tree near the original nest.

A fourth bird was injured and needed to stay at the wildlife facility longer than expected. Once the bird was able to stand on its own, Loomis returned it to join its thriving siblings on Mother’s Day.

“I have been involved in barn owl conservation and advocacy for the last few years and believe that Leslie Straub and Billy Sauls’ timely actions saved the lives of all four owlets,” Loomis said.

According to Loomis, upon returning to the site and installing an owl house for the birds, she noticed that the birds’ parents were “looking for their babies and were ready for their return.”

“That four owlets were saved in this way provides a wildlife rescue story with the happiest and most heartwarming of endings,” Loomis said. “Billy’s part in the outcome of this story is deeply appreciated. His actions provide a perfect model for all of us, should we come across this kind of natural accident in the wild.”

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Improving the survival rate of four species of salmon and steelhead along the lower Columbia River will cost $2.1 billion during the next 25 years, under a plan offered by the federal government.

Federal officials want to spend $2.1 billion to improve the survival rates of four species of fish on the Lower Columbia River. (Photo By: Bonneville Power Administration)

The NOAA Fisheries Service proposed a series of steps that include improving the habitat for the fish, changing management of hatchery and hydropower programs, and controlling predators, such as sea lions and birds.

The goal, the agency said in a May 16 announcement, is to restore populations of the four fish in the waters between Oregon and Washington to the point where they can be removed from the Endangered Species List.

Of the $2.1 billion, about $614 million is expected to be needed in the first five years, primarily for improvements in the Columbia River estuary that are expected to benefit all salmon and steelhead.

Fish and wildlife programs account for about 30 percent of the wholesale power costs of the Bonneville Power Administration, which markets hydroelectricity from federal dams to co-ops and other utilities.

Some progress already is underway, the fisheries service reported. Harvest rates of the Lower Columbia River Chinook salmon, Lower Columbia River steelhead, Lower Columbia River coho salmon and Columbia River chum salmon are dropping.

“However, considerable additional work is needed to meet the goals of this plan. Habitat activities in particular need to be scaled up if they are to provide the needed benefits,” the agency said.

It added that it will look into additional ways to improve survival rates of fish that pass through Bonneville Dam.

The plan was developed after consulting with state, tribal and federal representatives, as well as local communities and other stakeholders. The agency is taking comments through July 16.

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The solar power industry says 2011 represented a boom year for business, and a Georgia electric cooperative was a major part of that trend.

A Georgia co-op is among the national leaders in delivering solar energy to its members with the help of incentive programs. (Photo By: TVA)

Blue Ridge Mountain Electric Membership Corp. was second in the nation in the category of annual solar watts delivered per customer, according to rankings released this month by the Solar Electric Power Association, a trade group.

The Young Harris, Ga.-based co-op provided more than 192 watts-per-customer in 2011, up from 162 watts for 2010. It serves nearly 50,000 meters in Georgia and North Carolina.

Erik Brinke, director of economic development at Blue Ridge Mountain EMC, said a combination of incentives from North Carolina and the Tennessee Valley Authority has helped boost solar power.

Generation Partners, to be renamed Green Power Providers, pays a premium to small facilities that generate renewable energy.

“North Carolina allowed 100 percent tax credit monetization on its state solar tax credits,” Brinke said. “Combined with TVA’s Generation Partners program incentives, that has created an excellent situation for solar in our North Carolina counties.”

Blue Ridge Mountain EMC has seen some increase in solar power in its Georgia territory, though the state tax credit there is not as expansive as the North Carolina program, Brinke said.

Brinke said the co-op has about 14.1 megawatts of solar energy online, with nine more projects in progress. Overall, the solar projects range from 200 kilowatts to 1 MW, and the TVA program considers them mostly all-residential.

Another eight solar arrays are spread across the territory, including one at an elementary school.

“This may not seem like a lot of solar compared to some of the larger 20 MW-plus projects announced around the country, but for our little co-op of just over 40,000 members and nearly 50,000 meters, it is a lot of new solar to add in a very short amount of time,” Brinke said.

Overall, solar power did well in 2011, compared with 2010, the solar association said. New solar capacity jumped 120 percent as utilities interconnected more than 62,500 photovoltaic systems.

Large-scale systems at utilities are gaining ground, making up 39 percent of the new solar capacity in 2011, compared with 9 percent in 2008. The solar group said the utility segment of capacity could increase to 1,500 megawatts in 2012.

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