Membership Matters

March 2005

Small Change Changes Lives

Do you ever stop to look at the change in your pocket and then realize how it could provide warmth to a mom or dad who recently lost their job? Or a family who is simply having trouble making ends meet?

Through Blue Ridge Electric’s BREMCare program, small change can make a big difference for local families needing assistance with electric and heating bills.

How can I help?

BREMCare is a voluntary member program in which your electric bill is rounded up to the next whole dollar. For example, if your March bill is $85.32, you would be billed $86.00 and the extra 68 cents would go into the BREMCare fund. The average annual member donation is $6. All administrative costs are covered by the cooperative, and your change adds up with other member donations to make a big impact! In 2004, nearly 300 members were assisted with awards totaling more than $30,000. That’s a lot of extra change!

How is BREMCare administered?

Funds are awarded through local helping agencies, such as Social Services and Blue Ridge Opportunity Commission (BROC), where qualified staff identify deserving households and disperse funds. In order to help as many households as possible, assistance is limited to $100 yearly per family. Because proper weatherization of a home helps control heating bills, BREMCare funds are also awarded for this purpose.

How can I sign up?

The easiest way to give to BREMCare is by signing up to “round up” your monthly bill. Members may sign up or discontinue BREMCare participation at any time. Lump sum donations are also accepted. All donations are tax deductible. To sign up today, call your local Blue Ridge Electric office or sign up on-line at www.BlueRidgeEMC.com.

Members Only News
- For Members of Blue Ridge Electric

Save Energy in the Kitchen

There are many ways to save energy in the kitchen that require little extra effort. Here are a few tips:

Use cold water for cooking, even if you’ll heat the water on the stove. Hot water that has been sitting in your water heater isn’t considered wholesome for cooking by health experts.
Use lids on pots and pans when possible to speed cooking.
Use pressure cookers for foods that require long cooking times. This will usually reduce the cooking time by three-quarters.
Avoid using your full-size oven. Use a microwave for small meals or leftovers.
If you have a gas range, check that the flame is mostly blue, with yellow only at the tips. Have a serviceman adjust them if needed. A properly adjusted flame is cleaner and more efficient.
Defrost frozen foods in the refrigerator for a day or two before cooking. This is like putting a free block of ice in your refrigerator.
Check the temperature of your refrigerator and freezer using an accurate thermometer. Adjust your refrigerator so it is no colder than 38-40 degrees. Adjust your freezer to 0-5 degrees.
If your refrigerator has an Energy-Saver switch, turn it to “off” or “save energy.” This controls small electric heaters that warm the outside of the refrigerator to prevent condensation from forming around the door in humid climates. Unless you notice wetness or frost around the door, you don’t need to use this feature.
Run your dishwasher only when it’s full. Use the energy saving cycle to save electricity and hot water.
Finally, if you’re shopping for a new refrigerator or dishwasher, look for models that have an “Energy Star” label. These are the most efficient appliances made.

Source: John Krigger, Saturn Resource Management. John Krigger is a nationally recognized author of numerous energy efficiency books, including Surviving The Seasons: A Practical Guide To Home Energy Efficiency and Cost Savings; and Comfort for Existing Buildings. For more information, visit his website www.residential-energy.com.

Photo_CEO Johnson The Perspective

An Editorial by Chief Executive Officer Doug Johnson
Subsidiary Update

As a member-owner of Blue Ridge Electric, you also own the cooperative’s heating fuels subsidiary. Blue Ridge Energies is a provider of propane heating fuels, and commercial gasoline and has showrooms featuring gas logs, fireplaces, and more located in our district offices in Lenoir, Boone, and West Jefferson. Because of your interest, I periodically update you on its performance in this column.

In 2004, Blue Ridge Energies experienced great success in customer growth and profitability. This is good news for Energies customers, our members and communities because its success benefits you in several ways.

First, it benefits you through our focus on customer care. Last year, Blue Ridge Energies averaged a 9.7 rating on a 10-point scale on customer satisfaction surveys. These high ratings are rare in our industry. Our employees are the ones delivering this extraordinary customer care on a daily basis, from installing heating systems and delivering fuels to handling customer requests.

Second, we offered you customer convenience programs such as Bank Draft, which was introduced last year to help customers pay through automatic funds transfer. Additionally, we helped propane customers save on heating costs with a “pre-buy” program offered last August that allowed them to pre-buy their supply at market price levels at that time. A propane “lock in” option was also offered for customers wanting to lock in to current market prices for the supply they would use during the heating season.

Because our employees deliver such excellent customer care and because we have fair and competitive prices on our products and services, our Energies business grew by over 9 percent last year. Our outstanding growth enabled Blue Ridge Energies to provide a net benefit to Blue Ridge Electric of over $600,000 in 2004.

While factors such as the war in Iraq, unrest in the Middle East, and winter weather caused fuel prices to remain higher than normal this heating season, you can be proud that on a local level Blue Ridge Energies is providing a good benefit to our member-owners. Most importantly, we’re working to bring you the highest in customer care and as we continue to grow and be profitable, we plan to share a portion of the earnings with the people and communities we serve in northwest North Carolina.

Move Over: A Public Service Message

A new law in North Carolina protects state troopers and other law enforcement officers and emergency workers stopped along side our highways.

The new “Move Over” law requires motorists to approach cautiously when an emergency vehicle is stopped on the shoulder of the roadway with its lights flashing. Motorists are required to change lanes away from the emergency vehicle on a multi-lane highway or slow down on a two-lane highway when they can do so safely. Motorists must also maintain a safe speed while slowing down.

Violations of this law cost $125.

How to Report An Outage

Call 1-800-448-2383 to use PowerLine any time, day or night, for the quickest way to report an outage or get account information. Or, call your local Blue Ridge Electric district office.

Published monthly by Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corporation for its 52,319 members.