2009 Will Be a Year of Challenges

This year will be one of challenges as your cooperative and other electric utilities nationwide try to meet the needs of our consumers. We all face the reality of new governmental policies and regulations, fluctuating energy costs, availability of fuel supplies and an aging transmission grid. Add these things to the formal announcement of a recession, and we’ve got our plates full to try to keep a rein on cost of service without affecting the quality of service. There’s no sugarcoating the power crisis we face as Americans.

Over the past five years, electric bills have shot up 30 percent on average, largely because of sharply rising costs for coal, natural gas and basic construction materials such as steel, concrete and copper. At the same time, electricity use continues to increase.

Electric cooperatives, growing much faster than other sectors of the electric utility industry, face a double-whammy in all of this. A report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture finds we will need to double existing generation capacity by 2020 to keep the lights on. This means adding power plants that will be the most expensive in history thanks to escalating prices, inflation, international competition for raw resources, labor and expertise, as well as impending federal climate change mandates.

By taking steps such as promoting energy efficiency and offering home efficiency audits, Piedmont Electric is working hard to minimize the effects of cost increases that we are all enduring. But if we expect electricity to continue being a safe, affordable and reliable resource, we must convince policy-makers to work for energy solutions that are economically, technically and politically sustainable over the long term.

The answers aren’t simple, but they’re out there. For one, energy efficiency must become a national priority. Only a sustained commitment like this will deliver the solutions our nation’s needs.Let’s keep letting lawmakers know that actions they take regarding our energy challenges carry enormous consequences for the folks back home.

It’s time to make our voices heard.

In past months we have been asking members to contact their elected representatives to voice their concerns about how energy legislation will affect not only the environment, but also the cost of the energy we use.

We believe through the grassroots effort of “Our Energy, Our Future,” we can make a significant impact.

What we need more than ever is YOUR involvement in contacting your elected representatives through the website www.ourenergy.coop.