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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 21, 1994)
HMM Page 6 The INDEPENDENT, December 21,1994 WOEC remains with BPA; future unsure By Jim Buxton West Oregon Electric Co op era tive has alw ays p u r chased its pow er from the Bonneville Power Administra tion. Until recently there has been no reason to even con sider doing oth erw ise. But with escalating power costs, potentially expensive prob lems with dams, river flows and salmon, along with per ceived inefficiency at BPA, the cooperative’s board of di rectors has been considering purchasing power from other providers such as B.C. Hydro or Portland General Electric Company. Tuesday, at its re g u la r monthly board meeting, the directors met with WOEC at torney, Chuck Fadeley, in a closed door executive ses sion. After the public session reconvened, Manager David Seuss and Director Hess an nounced that WOEC would continue to purchase its pow er from BPA, at least for the next couple of years. There are “too many unknowns to make a prudent decision oth erwise,” said Seuss. In other news concerning BPA, Don Amundsen, the co operative’s office manager, told the board he discovered that WOEC has been over charged for electricity by BPA on a somewhat regular basis. Just as WOEC m eters the e le c tric ity th a t e n te rs o u r homes, BPA meters the elec tricity that enters WOEC sub stations. There are several different places where WOEC receives its power from BPA and each of these is metered. Unlike our homes, where only the amount of electricity used is metered, BPA also meters “demand” or peak usage. The demand meter’s needle sticks in the hig h e st p o s itio n reached during the m onth and is re se t by the m eter reader. If there is a major outage, or if COOP linemen are work ing on the lines, and the load is switched from one substa tion to another, BPA’s d e mand meters are activated at each substation for the same power demand. BPA adds the dem ands from all substations together when computing WOEC’s bill. WOEC is supposed to notify BPA when it switches loads, but BPA doesn’t always issue the proper credits, Amundsen said. He also discovered that BPA occasionally “estimates” WOEC’s power consumption when BPA’s equipment fails. Amundsen has forwarded ten y e a rs of COOP pow er records to BPA, pointing out places where there are prob lem s. BPA has alre a d y agreed to issue refunds for some of the more recent mis charges. ¡-2505 W IL L B E CLOSED A T 1 :0 0 p . m . - D e c . 2 4 , 1 9 9 4 N e h a le m V a lle y S a n it a r y S e rv ic e 4 2 9 -8 7 1 1 • V e r n o n ia Pete Sez... Merry Christmas & Happy New Year DARIGOLD COUNTRY LIVESTOCK MEAT CO. custom Ö 12% Protein OARIGOIO MEAT CUTTING MOBILE SLAUGHTER UNIT Retail Store $25 Beef - $25 Pork Smokehouse Cut & Wrapped 28c Lb. All Game Processed — We Make Sausage SPECIAL ON 5 0 LB. BAGS 10 Bags, ....*5 .6 0 •«. • 1 Bag............ *6.10 Last Minute Shoppers....Great Specials on Starter Aquarium K its...10 gal. to 55 gal. FULL LINE PET & VETERINARY SUPPLIES Open 7 Days, Mon-Sat 9-6, Sun 12-5 Columbia Electric Feed & Seed Hiway 30 Between Rainier & Clatskanie at Alston Corner 1421 COLUMBIA BLVD., ST. HELENS • 397-3450 VERNONIA Adult & Family Services 2nd Thursday 1 -2:00 p.m., School District Ofc. AFS 1st Wednesday 7:30 p.m., VHS Library Alcoholics Anonymous Fridays 8 p.m., 1st Baptist Church Alcoholics Anonymous Mon. & Thurs. 7 p. m.,64975 Neh. Hwy. N., 429-6063 American Cancer Society 2nd Wednesday 12:30 p.m., Golf Course AWANA Clubs Wednesdays 7- 8:30 p.m., Evangelical Church Boosters 2nd Wednesday 7:30 p.m., VHS Library Boy Scouts Wednesdays 7:00 p.m., LDS Church Chamber of Commerce 2nd Wednesday 7:30 a.m., Country Kitchen Cub Scouts Tuesdays 7:00 p.m,, WGS Gym Girl Scouts Thursdays 6:30-8 p.m., Christian Church Izaak Walton League 3rd Wednesday For location call 429-7193 Jamboree Committee 1st Wednesday 7 p.m., VHS library Lions Club 1st & 3rd Tuesdays 6:30 p.m., Lew’s Place MTC Training & Placement 2nd Thursday 1- 2:00 p.m., School District Ofc. Nehalem Valley Car Club 1st Tuesday 7 p.m., Crazy Charlie' Oregon State Employ. Dept. 2nd Thursday 1-, 2:00 p.m., School District Ofc. Preschool Story Hour Wednesdays 10:30 a.m., City Library Ridge Riders Saddle Club Last Tuesday 7:30 p.m., City Library Senior Center Directors 1st Friday 1 p.m., Senior Center Senior & Disabled Services 2nd Thursday 1 2:00 p.m., Schoo, District Ofc. TOPS Tuesdays 6:30 p.m., 627 Adams Vernonia Cares Directors 2nd Thursday* 7:30 p.m., 627 Adams Vernonia City Council 1st & 3rd Mondays 7:30 p.m., City Library Vernonia Grange 2nd Saturday 10:00 a.m., Grange Hal, x ; V e r n o n ia G a r b a g e T r a n s fe r S ta tio n Vernonia Planning Comm. 1st & 3rd Thursdays Vernonia Preschool Directors 1st Tuesday Vernonia Rural Fire District 2nd Tuesday Vernonia School District 2nd Thursday Vernonia Volunteer Firefighters 2nd Monday WOEC Directors 3rd Tuesday MIST-BIRKENFELD Mist-Birkenfeld Fire Bd. 2nd Tuesday 7:30 p.m., Main Fire Station M-B Firefighters Assoc. 1st, 2nd & 3rd Wednesdays 7 p.m., Main Fire Station M-B Ambulance Assoc. 1 st, 2nd & 3rd Thursdays 7 p.m., Main Fire Station Natal Grange 2nd Wednesday 7:30 p.m., Grange Hall COLUMBIA COUNTY (All meet in St. Helens unless otherwise noted.) Board of Commissioners Wednesdays 10 a.m., Courthouse Citizens for Senior Justice 2nd Tuesday 7 p.m., Sunset Park Church COLCO Transportation 2nd Friday 10:30 a.m., Courthouse County Council of Seniors 2nd Friday 1:00 p.m., Courthouse Columbia ESD 3rd Wednesday 7:30 p.m., 800 Port Ave. County Fair Board 2nd & 4th Tuesday 7 p.m., 4-H Bldg., Fairgrounds County Parks Commission 2nd Wednesday 7 p.m., 1054 Oregon St. Emergency Comm. Dist. 3rd Tuesday 7 p.m., Courthouse Historical Society 4th Wednesday Noon, location call 429-3713 Traffic Safety Commission 1st Wednesday 7 a.m., Village Inn •January, April, July & October only Organizations and meeting dates not listed may be included by calling 429-9410, or by mail to The INDEPENDENT, 1206 State Avenue, Vernonia, OR 97064. - *? • I 7:00 p.m., City Library 7 p.m., 627 Adams 7:30 p.m., Fire Station 8 p.m., School District Office 7 p.m., Are Station 7 p.m., WOEC
