The Enlightener

September 2006

Give a Little - Help a Lot
Please respond to the call for help

Do you know of an unmet need in your community? One that can mean the difference between life or death? Or help a family hurt by job loss? Perhaps you know of an organization that needs a jumpstart to do something positive such as providing shelter, emergency care, medical services, or heating.

If there are needs in your community, please consider joining forces with Blue Ridge Electric as we call on our members in coming weeks to unite with us under the new program “Operation Round Up.”

Operation Round Up is a broader umbrella for our previous assistance program known as BREMCare. Due to growing and varied needs in our area, Blue Ridge Electric decided to expand the mission of BREMCare and rename the program as we work to fulfill the cooperative mission of improving the local communities we serve. While we’ll continue to provide heating assistance through this program, we’ll also be able to help fund other local projects and services to improve the quality of life in Northwest North Carolina.

Meeting the needs of our communities will happen only if all join forces. Operation Round Up gives our members a convenient, low cost way to do that. By joining this program, you allow Blue Ridge Electric to “round up” your power bill to the next dollar amount. For example, if your power bill is $122.37, your bill would be rounded up to $123 – an easy and painless way to contribute just pennies a month.

The power of Operation Round Up is member participation – the more members who sign up, the more individual contributions add up and the more projects Operation Round Up can fund. To secure participation, we’ll be calling you over the coming weeks to ask you to sign up for Operation Round Up. Blue Ridge Electric is covering all administrative costs of the program so that all donations can go directly to help fund local community projects. Participation is voluntary and can be cancelled at any time.

See this month’s Perspective by CEO Doug Johnson on page 5 to learn how projects will be selected. You’ll also learn about the oversight Blue Ridge members will provide Operation Round Up and about the new foundation that governs it.

How to join Operation Round Up:

When we call, just say “yes”
By calling your local office at the numbers to the right
Online at www.BlueRidgeEMC.com
By filling out the form on page 3 and returning it with your bill or to your local Blue Ridge Electric office

Power Reliability Projects

To keep you informed of how we’re working to ensure your power reliability, we’re providing a quarterly update of projects currently underway. System improvement projects scheduled for completion or in progress this quarter include:

Ashe District
Work continues on the transmission line upgrade from Horse Gap to West Jefferson and is targeted for completion by winter. The line is being upgraded from 100 kilovolts (kv) to 230 kv to serve growth and demand in Ashe, Watauga, and Alleghany counties. Additionally, upgrading the line along Hwy. 163 and a second project of connecting the new Baldwin substation will lead to greater reliability and meet growing electricity demand.

Caldwell District
System improvements in the community college area are complete. In Wilkes County, upgrading overhead lines to serve growth in the Darby area has begun.

Watauga District
Improvements along Hwy 421 near Vilas and Sampson Road will begin soon to help meet future capacity needs and improve reliability.

Alleghany District
Alleghany system improvements are complete except for one project along Hwy 221 which will replace about four miles of 50-year-old copper wire. This will improve reliability because old wire poses reliability problems when high winds and ice storms occur.

The Perspective

An Editorial by Chief Executive Officer Doug Johnson

Foundation Will Benefit Communities

I’m excited to announce the formation of the new Blue Ridge Electric Members Foundation to provide a new level of assistance and support for quality of life projects and programs in our local communities.

The Blue Ridge Electric Members Foundation is a dream come true for your Board of Directors and me as it signifies the true success of the cooperative’s heating fuels subsidiary, Blue Ridge Energies. The subsidiary was designed to provide tangible benefits to our members and local communities, and that is exactly what the Foundation will provide. Portions of the Foundation will be funded through subsidiary profits and from another new initiative: Operation Round Up. (see article above)

The Blue Ridge Electric Board of Directors will serve as the Board of the Foundation. Additionally, a 12-person Foundation Advisory Board will be developed from the cooperative’s four Member Advisory Committees representing each of our districts. The Advisory Board will review requests for assistance and make recommendations for project funding to the cooperative’s Board of Directors.

The ultimate goal of the Blue Ridge Electric Members Foundation is to make Northwest North Carolina an even better place to live and work. In our current economy, there are certainly many needs to be filled. And no matter how well an economy may thrive, there will always be needs worthy of funding. The Foundation is designed to generate long-term funds to help finance economic development and community development initiatives, to provide greater crisis assistance for fuel and electric bills, and to provide resources for projects that improve the overall quality of life for our members.

Those of us in Northwest North Carolina take much pride in being self-sufficient. With that in mind, and in the spirit of cooperation, we are asking all our members to join together in support of the Foundation. You can help by joining Operation Round Up and allowing us to round up your bill to the next dollar amount. That’s just a few cents a month for each household. But the power is in our numbers – when we all join together, we can make a big difference for our local communities.

Software Conversion

As we update our member information systems and fully integrate a new computer software system this November, we are excited about the many opportunities it creates to better serve our members. While we are training and preparing for the conversion, we appreciate your patience as we begin using the new system.

As part of our improvements, you will also have an updated “look” – or design – for your electric bill starting in November. Our goal is to make your new bill user friendly and easy to read. One new feature of the bill will be bar coding, which we can scan for prompter service to you. Please remember to bring your bill with you when visiting our offices. Please also have your bill handy when you call us to ensure prompt service.

We appreciate your patience as we begin using a new software system to better serve you!

Current Information
Improves Service

Having your current telephone number and address on file is critical for ensuring you receive the best possible customer service. Call us today to update your account information.

Published monthly by Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corporation for its 52,597 members