November 2015 | Volume 77 | Issue 11
Your co-op is looking for a few good members
1. 12 for the 2016 Focus Group
2. 250 to answer a randomized telephone survey
Focus Group
Each year Platte-Clay asks members to share their knowledge and expertise with the co-op management though feedback on specific issues, trends and other topics.
The Focus Group meets quarterly in the evening, which includes a meal and a small stipend to offset the cost of getting to the meeting.
It’s a great opportunity to learn more about the co-op and a great way to share knowledge accumulated through work and life experience.
The ideal focus group has representatives of all age and income groups. It’s casual dress and the meeting is organized to give each co-op member an opportunity to share their point of view.
There are online applications on the co-op web site, pcec.coop and paper copies at both offices.
Focus Group members will be selected after the first of the year.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Touchstone Energy Triennial Telephone Survey
We know there are many people who don’t like telephone surveys. We get that.
But it’s the best way to conduct a major, national survey and if called, we’d like for you to anonymously answer questions about the co-op and other industry-related topics.
It’s a comprehensive survey conducted every three years and it provides important member feedback that helps shape the co-op policies and initiatives.
The survey compares Platte-Clay member responses to all other Missouri co-op members.
The survey company will take the entire membership list and scientifically, randomly select members to be a part of the survey.
So if you’ve ever thought, “I’d like to give them a piece of my mind!” here are two excellent opportunities.
Working to meet your needs
Mike Torres
From the CEO
Research says that consumers are comfortable with brands they already know and understand. That consumers don’t like new things, that in fact, we fear new things. They say that when a new idea becomes familiar that people willingly adopt it. Consumers like “new and improved,” not just “new.”
But every now and then an idea, a product takes off, a bit slowly, then there are more and more sales as it becomes familiar.
Take Apple’s iPhones, for instance. When iPhones first came out in 2007, the company sold 270,000 units in the third quarter of that year.
By comparison, Apple sold 13 million iPhone 6S and 6S Plus over the three-day introductory weekend in late September. That’s a lot of iPhones flying off of shelves in only three days.
Apple acceptance and sales growth since 2007
We’re finding that Solartech is taking off in a similar vein.
Research says that early adopters, the innovators, represent about 8 percent of a market. For Platte-Clay, that would be about 1,500 co-op families who are interested in solar energy and who would be inclined to either buy and install their own solar array, lease panels or to buy energy from the co-op’s community solar array, Solartech.
The solar industry statistics too are interesting as more and more Americans look for ways to both reduce reliance on fossil fuels and increase energy efficiency. The solar industry continues to grow, now with enough renewable energy generated to power some 4.6 million American homes.
Platte-Clay is proud to be in step with both goals and in fact, built one of the first 100 community solar arrays in the U.S. with co-op member support and encouragement.
Community solar provides an opportunity for members to have “roofless,” affordable solar energy—either about $3 a month more a panel, or no energy costs with a 25-year, flexible lease, with panels at $815 each.
So, a bit like the Pilgrims who celebrated their first Thanksgiving in 1621 in the New World, this year we’re celebrating our first Thanksgiving of producing solar energy for co-op members.
Have a happy and safe Thanksgiving weekend.
As always, if you have questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me.
Getting back on line
We know that we’re only a tornado, gust of straight-line wind, heavy snow or ice storm away from a major outage. And we’re hoping that severe weather avoids us. As a member-owner of the co-op, we want to share the process of repairing damage and getting our lights back on.
All repairs start with the main lines. A large number of members down the line will have power restored once the main line is fixed. Members have two excellent resources when there is a major outage: 1) pcec.coop has a real-time outage map and 2) the co-op will post updates on its Facebook page. In most instances, the co-op will not be able to tell members when service will be restored, the most frequently asked question.
With the main line fixed, shown in red, line crews can isolate other damage and prioritize repairs. Though a couple of repairs were closer, fixing the line that serves the subdivision down the road will get a larger number of customers on quicker.
Moving back down the road to fix a tap line will restore electricity to homes marked with arrows.
A smaller tap line serving several homes and the farm on the hill is next on the list for the line crew. The customers in one house may have seen the crew driving by their home and working right across the road. They see lights in homes of all their neighbors, but they still don’t have power. That’s because even though electricity is coming to their pole (repaired in Step 1, 2 or 3), the service line from their pole to their meter is damaged.
Please note: individual repairs come after all distribution and tap lines are restored.
Crews will work so long as it is safe and until all members have service restored–which can take hours, days or weeks–depending on the extent of damage.
Only after the tap lines are repaired does the crew start work on individual service lines. It’s both necessary and practical to first repair the lines that restore power to the most people.
Finally, all power is restored to Platte-Clay members. However, Platte-Clay line crews may need to come out in the following days and weeks to make long-term repairs and even rebuild sections of line that were damaged by the storm. This means you may find blinking clocks when you get home from work or be notified of planned short-term power outages.
It also might mean tree-trimming crews will be in the area to make sure rights-of-way are clear of overhanging tree branches. Wind and ice storms can topple trees into power lines, one of the major cause of outages. To help prevent outages, please call 628-3121 if you notice trees growing into electric lines.
Platte-Clay provides 24 x 7 x 365 member service assistance. To check on an outage, visit the co-op web site, pcec.coop If there is a large outage, the co-op will post updates on Facebook, however don’t post outages there; call the office at 628-3121 as the dispatch group works with the repair crews.
Graphics courtesy Richard Bevier, Electric Consumer, Indiana Statewide
If you’re one of those people who start your Holiday shopping in the spring, but are stumped for that person who has everything, we have a suggestion.
If they are a Platte-Clay member, it’s possible to enter into a long-term lease for a solar panel.
It is $815 a panel and there would be no energy costs for the kWh produced by the solar panel(s) going forward.
Think of how far ahead we would be if we could have locked in the price of gasoline 10 years ago when it was around $1.80 a gallon.
Solar panels from the community solar array would be a great family gift or gift for the children to give their parents. One size fits all.
And if for some reason, the individual no longer would be living on Platte-Clay lines, the co-op will purchase the panel(s) back, taking into consider depreciation.
The Solartech contract details are on the co-op web site, www. pcec.coop on the home page. Simply scroll down and follow the links.
The manufacturer’s estimate is that a solar panel will produce about 525 kWh a year.
Call before you dig – 1-800-DIG-RITE
or 811 or Click before you dig – www.mo1call.com
It’s the law in Missouri, and it could be an expensive and dangerous mistake.
Member Viewpoint
Member Viewpoint is an opportunity for co-op members to share their thoughts on a variety of topics. To submit a Member Viewpoint, go to pcec.coop click on News – top tab and enter your Member Viewpoint.
Other Member Viewpoints appear on your co-op web site.
Member Viewpoint is for Platte-Clay Electric Cooperative members. We hope you’ll take a few minutes to share your comments and thoughts on issues that are important to you with your friends and neighbors.
Power poles don’t bend
We’ve seen power poles for all of our lives and if not power poles, the green cabinets that house Platte-Clay’s high-voltage transformers that serve our homes.
There are a lot of them, and, a word to the wise, they aren’t cheap.
Just ask anyone who’s plowed into one and sorted it out with their insurance company.
And even though we feel sorry for anyone who’s been in an accident, there is that other side of the coin: like the co-op members postponing dinner because there’s no power to cook, no TV, no PlayStation and the laptop won’t run on its battery for very long.
And in addition to that, there’s the cost of calling in a crew, no matter the time of the incident, because just like on Broadway, the show must go on.
And that means the pole must be replaced, if possible power re-routed to get members back on quicker, although it isn’t always possible, the electronics replaced and checked and the site cleared of debris.
In short, poles, the green transformer cabinets and the transformers aren’t cheap and neither is fixing them.
So when it comes to texting while driving or driving fast on our twisty roads, it may be a better bet to keep both hands on the wheel and focus on the task at hand— driving safely.
Not only is it “the life you save may be your own,” the equipment you save, for co-op members, is, in fact, your own.
The Northland Connection is published monthly by Platte-Clay Electric Cooperative, Inc., 1000 W. 92 Highway, Kearney, MO 64060. Postmaster: Please send address changes to: Northland Connection, PO Box 100, Kearney, MO 64060 or mail@pcec.coop.
Platte-Clay is an equal opportunity employer.