Membership Matters
October 2004
Members Help Support Renewable Energy
Blue Ridge Electric began partnering with NC GreenPower last October to give members an easy, affordable way to support renewable energy initiatives. Since then, 130 members have signed up and through August of 2004, $6,216 in contributions has been sent to NC GreenPower to help support the development of renewable energy sources for our state’s power supply.
NC GreenPower encourages development of technology to transform renewable energy such as wind, solar, and methane sources into cleaner and environmentally sustainable power.
NC GreenPower operates by using voluntary contributions from residential and business consumers. Residential consumers can contribute as little as $4 a month, which is added onto their monthly power bill. All contributions, which are tax deductible, are forwarded by the participating utilities directly to NC GreenPower.
NC GreenPower operates by using voluntary contributions from residential and business consumers. Residential consumers can contribute as little as $4 a month, which is added onto their monthly power bill. All contributions, which are tax deductible, are forwarded by the participating utilities directly to NC GreenPower.
NC GreenPower is making headway. Agreements were awarded in June to North Carolina's first renewable energy producers in this program. All energy generated for the NC GreenPower program will be produced in North Carolina for the state's power supply.
Producers were selected from responses to a request for proposals (RFP) and qualifications process. As the demand for renewable energy continues to grow, NC GreenPower will issue another RFP to obtain additional resources.
To date, the program has received support from 5,220 customers statewide, with monthly contributions averaging 14,500 blocks of energy per month [one block is equal to 100 kilowatt hours (kwh); the average house uses 1,000 kwh of energy each month]. This is like planting more than two million trees. This also is the environmental equivalent of 2,900 people not driving their cars for one year.
See page three to sign up for NC GreenPower. Producers interested in submitting proposals should visit www.ncgreenpower.org for more information.
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Members Only News
-For Members of Blue Ridge Electric
Self-Financing Bonds
North Carolina is one of only two states in the country without a powerful economic development tool called self-financing bonds. North Carolinians for Jobs and Progress (NCJP) believes this same tool that’s been so successful in attracting jobs and reinvigorating communities across America can be helpful in North Carolina.
Amendment One, or self-financing bonds, will be on the statewide ballot in November and NCJP recommends voting for the bonds. These bonds are used to pay for public improvements such as streets, water and sewer service and sidewalks. The additional tax revenues from the increased property values in the district are used to pay off the bonds. No tax increases are necessary to pay off self-financing bonds.
Self-financing bonds – currently used in 48 other states – can also finance improvements for projects to redevelop abandoned factories and plants, to build new manufacturing plants, affordable housing, community revitalization, business incubators and commercial development and clean up environmentally damaged areas.
With self-financing bonds, a municipality or county decides to invest in infrastructure that will make a piece of property more attractive to development, such as water or sewer, street improvements, or storm drainage. The net gain in property taxes – generated within the district by the improved property – pays off the debt created from bonds issues by the local government. Once the bonds are paid off, the money goes into the general fund – helping pay for other services and to hold down taxes.
Self-financing bonds are a proven tool, with a success rate of more than 95 percent nationwide. North Carolina’s approach to these bonds is one of the most conservative in the country, with approval for all bonds necessary by the State Local Government Commission.
For additional details on Amendment One, visit www.amendmentone.org.
The Perspective
An Editorial by Chief Executive Officer Doug Johnson
Supporting Green Power
Blue Ridge Electric is pleased with member response to the renewable energy initiative, NC GreenPower. We are proud to offer members a convenient option to join with others across the state who have similar interests in protecting our environment by supporting electricity generated from the earth’s renewable energy sources.
Yet we hope more members decide to join this landmark program. NC GreenPower is the first program of its kind to garner support from all types of utilities across the state—from member-owned, not-for-profit electric cooperatives like Blue Ridge Electric to investor owned utilities and municipalities.
Supporting NC GreenPower with your voluntary contribution is an easy and economical way for North Carolinians to increase the use of solar, wind, water, and organic generation to help protect our environment and improve air quality. You can help by having a tax-deductible contribution of as little as $4 a month added to your monthly power bill. And every penny contributed is forwarded by Blue Ridge Electric and other utilities directly to NC GreenPower.
Along with our partnership with NC GreenPower, Blue Ridge Electric’s efforts include a move to support distributed generation technology due to interest expressed by some of our members. We are currently in the process of developing an experimental residential small generation interconnection rate. This would give members with their own renewable generation systems such as windmills, photovoltaic cells, or hydro systems with a nameplate rating of 20 kilowatts (KW) or less a way to interconnect and sell any excess power back to the cooperative and to the NC GreenPower program. Qualifying systems would, naturally, have to be installed, operated, and maintained in accordance with government and industry standards and specifications, as well as the cooperatives bylaws and service rules and regulations.
We will bring you more information on the experimental residential small generation interconnection rate as our board carefully considers and finalizes it. As a member-owned cooperative, we strive to deliver programs and services you desire. Our goal is to meet your needs while delivering upon the cooperative promise of delivering safe, reliable, and affordable electric service to our member-owners.
Manager Speaks at National Conference
Sandra Hicks, Caldwell district and call center manager, recently spoke at the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association’s national member relations and marketing conference held in Columbus, Ohio.
Hicks represented Blue Ridge Electric as the manager of a nationally recognized model cooperative call center. Blue Ridge Electric’s overall customer service ratings place it among the top scoring electric utilities in the country in the area of customer satisfaction.
At the national conference, Hicks was one of the three panelists presenting different aspects of customer service and its importance in today’s business environment. Hicks focused specifically on the role call centers fill in serving the needs of cooperative members and meeting member satisfaction goals.
Blue Ridge Electric’s call center and customer service department delivers service to the cooperative’s 67,000 member-owners as well as to customers of the cooperative’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Blue Ridge Energies, LLC.
Blue Ridge Electric will be closed Thursday and Friday, November 25 and 26 in observance of Thanksgiving. Have a safe and happy holiday.
Published monthly by Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corporation for its 52,302 member-owners.
