4
letters to the editor
december25
2012
Readers Lend Their Voices...
Letter to the Editor,
Happy Holidays!
The
Vernonia
Volunteer
Ambulance Association would like
to thank everyone for their continued
support. This year we joined the Spirit
Of Christmas with a Chili Cook off and
Fundraiser. It was a HUGE success and
we plan to hold it again next year. Thank
you for your support during the 4th of
July, Jamboree, Easter, Celebrating
Families and other community functions.
We are recruiting new volunteers
and have 2 people starting an Emergency
Medical Technician class in 2013.
If you have any questions please
email us at vernoniamwa@yahoo.com.
Thanks,
Vernonia Volunteer Ambulance
Association
To the Editor,
Thank you to the stranger who
paid for our coffee/breakfast at Black
Bear on 12/14/2012. Unexpected but
very appreciated!
Randy Carlton & Ryan Haynes
Metro West Ambulance/VVAA
To the Editor,
Recently, West Oregon’s Board
and management were presented with
a list of inquiries from member Jack
Phillips. Mr. Phillips says he represents
a member group he calls Power-of –
One (“Pwr/1”). WOEC’s Board felt
the information provided in response to
the inquiries would be of interest to the
membership as a whole. Accordingly,
what follows is the full text of the
questions and West Oregon’s response.
(Phillips’ questions are in italics)
1. AUDIT:
Pwr/1 has asked
for a performance audit outside of the
required, annual audit obtained by
WOEC. For many years, WOEC has
had the highest electricity rate per KWH
in Oregon. That is the reason for this
request. Admittedly, major FEMA-type
disasters have influenced these increased
costs. However, the high costs prevailed
before, during and after these disasters.
The most direct, effective
solution to the question of having the
highest costs per KWH is to conduct
an audit by a neutral, non affiliated,
professional third party to produce a
clear, transparent picture of what has
occurred for all members to see. An
audit of this type would show needed
efficiencies or lay to rest member
January 5th
February 2nd
March 2nd
April 6th
May 4th
concerns.
The Question: What steps will WOEC
take to provide an independent, outside
performance audit as requested?
1. Audit: WOEC already participates
in annual independent industry surveys
which provide data concerning almost
every aspect of the organization and
compares them with other utilities in the
nation and state. Comparable data covers
such areas as the number of employees,
operations, finances, employee wage and
benefit costs, vehicles and the like. This
is conducted and provided for the Co-
op annually by National Rural Utilities
Cooperative Finance Corporation at no
cost to the Co-op.
WOEC also participates in a
proprietary, confidential comparison
survey conducted by the Oregon Rural
Electric Cooperative Association which
allows us to compare our administrative
costs as a management tool.
To bring in National Consulting
Group, who specializes in conducting
organization assessments for electric
utilities, would cost the Co-op
approximately $21,000.
2. SOLAR: Bonneville Power
Administration is the current, single
electricity provider for WOEC. By
providing access to or providing for
green alternative energy, WOEC could
mitigate the problem of having BPA as
its only source of energy. With this in
mind, preliminary steps already taken
are:
• Pwr/1 has asked WOEC to research
green alternative energy and has
referred Solar City, Inc. to WOEC to
discuss installing Solar Energy for
WOEC members
• WOEC Manager, Marc Farmer,
recently visited Consumers Power Inc.,
in Corvallis, specifically to discuss
Consumers’ operational Solar Program,
which has 108 participants.
• Marc has stated plans to engage
PNGC (Pacific Northwest Generating
Cooperative) members in a round-table
discussion about alternative energy.
• It is acknowledged WOEC has a
1% interest in a Corvallis methane
generation plant, a proposed wave
energy project and a Eugene-based
solar project.
The Question: What immediate steps
will be taken by WOEC to provide
detailed information on and access to
energy generation from solar, wind and
micro-hydro?
2. Solar: There seem to be two separate
premises to this question. The first
premise for this question is that access
to or providing for green alternative
energy mitigates “the problem of having
BPA as [WOEC’s] only source of
energy. WOEC does not agree that its
wholesale power requirements contract
with BPA is a problem – rather, WOEC
considers the contract one of its most
valuable assets as a legal guarantee of
access to the lowest cost, firm wholesale
power supply. Since 100% of the power
purchased from BPA is carbon free,
the Co-op also achieves green power
without added costs of building or
purchasing power from higher cost, non-
firm alternate sources. Currently 80% of
the power from BPA is from hydro, 11%
from nuclear, and 9% from wind and
the market. Even with upcoming rate
increases from BPA in October of 2013,
the cost of wholesale power still remains
at 3 to 8 times less than power from
non-firm alternate sources which would
only serve to dramatically increase
costs to our members. For example,
we have actual numbers for wind that
is currently available to purchase which
comes in at $65 per megawatt hour with
an additional cost of $15 per megawatt
hour to firm it up. These costs do not
include the cost of transmission for the
power. We have also received quoted
prices for geothermal power currently
priced at $96 per megawatt hour this
year, $99 in 2013, and escalating in price
at 6% per annually for several years
before dropping to 1.33 percent in later
years. These costs compared to what we
currently pay all in at $40.42 through
2014 are why we remain committed to
providing the lowest cost power through
BPA with the added benefit that it is
carbon free.
The second premise is the
assumption that WOEC is not currently
actively involved in alternate green
energy programs. WOEC has offered
green power to its members to purchase
in blocks for over 5 years. We have also
been actively involved and promoted
energy efficiency and conservation
for over 30 years and continue to
offer programs in conjunction with
BPA and PNGC. The Co-op has paid
over $160,000 in energy conservation
rebates to members of the utility, both
residential and commercial, over the
past 10 years. Some of these projects
included a lighting upgrade for the
Jewell school and a large weatherization
project rebate for the Five Rock Ranch in
Yamhill that provides transition housing
and a retreat for women and children.
The co-op is actively working with the
Vernonia School District to provide
energy efficiency rebates for the new
building, and with the City of Vernonia
for possibly upgrading the waste water
pumping station.
WOEC has had a net metering
policy since June of 2000 to work with
its members who may want to install
solar, wind, and other approved forms of
generation as set forth in ORS 757.300.
We recently revised the policy to make it
even more beneficial to our members to
participate. The Co-op currently has four
members who have installed residential
solar projects and has good working
relationships with them. Information is
readily available from West Oregon, the
internet and multiple sources for those
members who might wish to participate
in their own energy generation.
While some Oregon utilities
have more robust programs, these
utilities have much larger consumer
bases, more dense populations, different
demographics, and greater revenue
margins. The programs they offer
require the utility to subsidize the
additional cost to the customer in order to
provide a sustainable level of customer
participation. WOEC does not have the
financial ability to subsidize programs to
this degree.
The area of concern WOEC
has expressed that might be interpreted
as being non-supportive of members
doing their own energy generation is
the reality that with our rate structure
being predominantly on our kilowatt
hour charge instead of our base charge,
it poses challenges to cover our fixed
costs. When there is a decrease in
revenue from kilowatt hour usage, then
the utility does not have enough funds
to cover its fixed costs. If the rate was
set like most other utilities such as cell
phones, gas, water, sewer, telephones,
etc, with fixed costs paid up front and
then usage billed after, we would not
have this challenge. It’s not that we are
not supportive of alternate generation, it
is a simply a matter of covering our fixed
costs with revenue.
3. BILLINGS: WOEC presently
provides a KWH Bar Graph showing
total KWH’s used for the billing month
and for each of the last 12 billing months.
This generates an incorrect energy
use picture because each month is not
30 days long. Many utilities, in order
to produce a more useful Bar Graph,
calculate Average Daily KWH use. They
divide the exact number of days, in a
given month, into the total KWH’s used.
The Daily Average is then comparable
to other months and allows members to
effectively analyze and control energy
costs.
The Question: What steps will WOEC
take to change to Bar Graphs utilizing
Average Daily KWH’s used?
3. Billings: In order to provide more
useful information and offer online bill
payment, WOEC is scheduled to install
a system called Smart Hub Application
by the end of second quarter 2013. This
product was chosen after several years
of research by WOEC. The system will
enable us to provide convenient 24/7
web and mobile access to our members
accounts. Members can then check
their usage, pay bills, check Twitter
feeds, report service information, allow
customized inquiries, and contact the
office online.
4. TREE TRIMMING: By
right of recorded easements, WOEC
has legal access to member-owned
properties for clearing the right of
way under WOEC power lines. Actual
continued on page 7
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