NRECA boss gives legislative update

Glenn English, CEO of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), has written a guest editorial addressing the progress of climate change legislation in Congress. Because the situation on Capitol Hill is fluid, we thought it best to share his comments with you here. If we waited until our next publication date, what English has to say now might no longer be accurate or relevant.

Please pass a link to the story along to anyone you know who might feel the impact of higher energy prices due to climate change legislation (that would be everyone you know...)



Co-ops Bring Postcard Blitz to Capitol Hill
By Glenn English, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association CEO

Here in our nation’s capital, elected officials are hunkered down for a legislative marathon many observers believe could stretch to Christmas Eve. With health-care and financial services reform, as well as energy and climate legislation, on active tracks, I cannot remember a time when so many ambitious and potentially game-changing proposals have been in play simultaneously.

Needless to say, the stakes are high and competition fierce. As you might expect with so much going on, it’s difficult to be heard above the din of paid media advertisements, “astroturf” public relations initiatives, and partisan political punditry. That’s why in August, in anticipation of a crowded congressional fall schedule and inevitable consideration of a climate change bill by the U.S. Senate, NRECA’s Our Energy, Our Future™ campaign launched an aggressive “postcard blitz.” The goal: urging senators to work with electric cooperatives to minimize the cost of curbing emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases and asking that they fight for provisions that are fair, affordable, and achievable.

The postcards entered the mail stream in late August, arriving at the homes of electric co-op consumers directly or stitched into statewide publications. The results of this effort have been immediate and overwhelming.

During the last week of September — literally hours before U.S. Senate leaders released their first draft of climate change legislation — delegates from electric co-ops across the nation converged on Capitol Hill to hand-deliver more than 500,000 signed postcards. These postcards serve as a physical representation of politically aware and engaged electric co-op consumers, demonstrating the incredible depth and breadth of our grassroots strength much more than any e-mail string or electronic petition. As a result, they effectively drive home the point that folks back home are watching how senators vote on this critical issue.

The initial draft of a climate change bill in the U.S. Senate, however, missed the mark. Electric cooperatives have significant concerns with the Senate bill and changes will need to be made.

The economic impact of climate change remedies will be enormous, ultimately driving up the price we pay for electric power. Just how high monthly electric bills will soar has become a matter of some debate. But the Congressional Budget Office — the non-partisan arm of Congress entrusted with determining the price tag of federal legislation — estimates that H.R. 2454, the climate change measure passed by the U.S. House in late June, would cost the average American household $175 a year by 2020. That works out to about $14 or $15 a month: an average that will vary depending on where you live.

Congress needs to ensure that consumers are protected from soaring increases in electric bills because of the legislation they consider. Now is the time to shape this legislation into something electric co-op consumers can afford to live with, and already we are seeing discussions that could make the bill more realistic in its goals and timelines. The Our Energy, Our Future campaign can keep the discussion going.

If your voice has not yet been heard, please get involved. I urge you to visit ourenergy.coop and join with the hundreds of thousands of co-op members who have already sent postcards. If you have taken the time to fill one out and mail it in, thank you.

Outage tonight will impact more than 10,000 members

Cullman EC, the Cullman Power Board and TVA will be working at the North Cullman substation tonight, and starting at 11 p.m., an outage lasting 20 to 30 minutes will take place.

The outage is to fix a "hot spot" inside the substation. We regularly use infrared cameras to look for hot spots in substations. If equipment overheats, it can cause a major power outage — usually at a time that is most inconvenient for everyone. During a check earlier this week, a hot spot was discovered, and the decision was made to fix is ASAP.

The outage will effect North Cullman as well as all of the substations that it feeds along a 46 kv line. Among those are Trade, Trimble, Jones Chapel, Holy Pond, Berlin to name a few.