rural

Ohio cooperatives look forward to 2017

hgraffice — Thu, 25 Jun 2020 20:18:39 +0000

Ohio cooperatives look forward to 2017

December 22, 2016

Up Front

Last year at this time, I provided you with our 2016 cooperative to-do list. As we begin 2017, I’ll take a moment to reflect on the past year and provide a look ahead at our plans for 2017.

During 2016, Ohio’s Electric Cooperatives successfully:

Brought modern electric service to the residents of the remote village of La Soledad, Guatemala. We left with memories of a lifetime and provided hope for generations to come.
Kicked off the OurSolar program and are nearly halfway through the construction of 20 community-based solar power systems across Ohio that will provide energy to our member-owners well into the future.
Worked collaboratively with your local electric cooperative, as well as with Ohio’s large investor-owned utilities (which control the high-voltage grid that we are connected to), and achieved significant reliability improvements in the delivery of power across Ohio. The result? Fewer power outages.
Provided grants for four community site development efforts, which we hope will result in the establishment of new businesses in the communities that we serve.
Via survey of our member-owners, achieved our highest-ever American Customer Satisfaction Index rating (85, for those keeping score).

While the results from the past year are gratifying, we still have much work to do in the year ahead:

We will expand and improve our job training and development program for electric line workers.
We will work with state and federal officials to develop more flexible and cost-effective ways to achieve environmental goals.
As American Electric Power moves away from its traditional role as an Ohio power plant owner/operator, we will develop plans to transition our long-term partnership for the operation of our power plants.
We will continue to expand and improve our efforts to support job creation, economic development, and member satisfaction across the communities that we serve.

We hope to keep you informed of these efforts through the year in this, your monthly member magazine. In March, look for an updated, redesigned publication, based on reader recommendations.

Above all else, as we look ahead to next year, I thank you for your continued support and patronage of your local electric cooperative. Together, we are better and stronger. God bless you and yours in the New Year.

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solar power

Ohio's Electric Cooperatives

power generation

Co-ops go to Washington

hgraffice — Thu, 25 Jun 2020 14:44:11 +0000

Co-ops go to Washington

May 30, 2017

Features

Ohio electric cooperative trustees and employees took their policy priorities to Capitol Hill in late April at the NRECA Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C.

Co-op leaders from dozens of states joined Ohio’s delegation for the annual conference, which focused this year on building momentum from the successful Co-ops Vote campaign during the 2016 election.

“Rural America stood up with a louder voice than before,” said Jim Matheson, president and CEO of NRECA, in an address to Legislative Conference attendees. “In a time of uncertainty, it’s all the more important for us to remain at the table, be active participants in the policy environment, and assert ourselves as the voice of American consumers.”

In personal meetings with legislators and their aides, Ohio’s attendees discussed a broad range of policy topics — including obvious areas of concern, such as rolling back EPA regulations and protecting the Rural Utilities Service loan program, to under-the-radar issues impacting cooperatives, such as federal land management policy and the Cadillac tax on health insurance plans.

According to Marc Armstrong, director of government affairs for Ohio’s Electric Cooperatives, it’s critical for co-op leaders to get face time with their representatives in Congress.

“We can’t expect our elected officials to always know what our legislative priorities are,” Armstrong said. “It is important for our leaders to convey — from a local perspective — what issues affect cooperative businesses and our members’ electric service.”

While most of Ohio’s members of Congress are aware of a prominent handful of co-ops’ policy priorities, many are not always aware of the breadth of issues facing co-ops. Co-ops are not just power suppliers to rural Ohioans — they are also employers and economic engines of local economies.

“Our co-ops face an array of policy issues — issues that affect our ability to deliver reliable, affordable power to our members, but also issues that can make it difficult for co-ops to provide for their hardworking employees,” Armstrong said. “It’s important that our policymakers are aware of all these issues and not just the ones that make headlines.”

While co-op leaders make the trip to Capitol Hill to advocate for members, it does not require a flight to D.C. for a co-op member to make his or her voice heard. Members can visit www.action.coop, where they can educate themselves on energy policy and send messages to their representative and senators on behalf of their cooperative.

Topics on the table

Ohio’s Legislative Conference attendees had a full list of policy issues to discuss with members of Congress:

Rural Utilities Service (RUS) Electric Loan Program: The Rural Utilities Service Electric Loan Program provides affordable capital to electric cooperatives for infrastructure development. Co-op leaders asked members of Congress to show their support of the RUS loan program, and to support future legislation allowing co-ops to pre-pay RUS loans without penalties.

Regulatory Relief: The new administration has issued executive orders to review and revise both the Clean Power Plan and The Waters of the United States rules. Electric co-ops welcome the change of direction from these costly and unnecessary regulations. Electric co-ops believe in being good stewards of the environment, but red tape and expensive rulemaking only increase members’ rates.

Full “Cadillac Tax” Repeal: Electric cooperatives around the country provide health insurance benefits to more than 100,000 employees, retirees, and their families. Because co-op employees live in rural communities, where limited access to health care drives costs higher, many co-op health insurance plans would be penalized with the “Cadillac tax” included in the Affordable Care Act. Co-ops across the country, including Ohio co-ops, asked their members of Congress to support the growing bipartisan effort to permanently repeal the Cadillac tax.

Support Improved Federal Land Management Policies: Federal land management policies make it difficult for co-ops to maintain rights-of-way on or near federal property. Co-op leaders urged legislators to support bipartisan legislation that would streamline the rights-of-way review process and reduce the risk of liability.

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environment

What's the difference

hgraffice — Wed, 24 Jun 2020 19:13:54 +0000

What's the difference

December 1, 2017

Electric co-ops were established to provide electricity to people living in rural communities. Folks in rural America had been mostly ignored by electric companies that didn’t see enough potential profit to run electric lines into the country. In the 1930s, a public-private partnership was forged to provide the large capital investments needed to build and operate rural electric systems. Member-consumers provided start-up capital, usually in the form of membership fees, and the Rural Electrification Administration provided loans to cooperatives, because private banks found the business too risky.

Today, your cooperative is financed in a similar manner, but its business has become far more secure after decades of successful operation. Each year, as you purchase electricity from your co-op, a small percentage of margin is included in your bill, which becomes your investment in the co-op — your share of the member equity. Financial equity is necessary to provide capital for the operations of the cooperative, and it allows the co-op to borrow the additional funds necessary to invest in poles, wire, transformers, meters, trucks, substations, computers, offices, warehouses, and anything else required for a reliable electric system designed to meet your needs.

The investment you make each month is tracked from year to year, and eventually returned to you as a capital credit. In essence, it’s the return of the equity that you’ve invested in your cooperative. The return of your capital may be in the form of a check or a bill credit, as determined by your co-op’s board. Read more on Page 4 about how this works.

However, capital credits are only one form of equity. We like to believe that our greatest investment lies in our human resources, and the spirit that defines electric cooperatives. In this season of giving, there’s no better example of that esprit de corps than the 40 linemen from across the Ohio electric cooperative network who left home and hearth for the better part of a week to provide much-needed assistance to their fellow linemen in New Hampshire, after severe storms knocked out power in much of the Granite State. In the cooperative world, we call it “mutual aid,” but it’s really the heart of “the cooperative difference.”

Wishing you and yours happy holidays and a merry Christmas from all of us at Ohio’s Electric Cooperatives.

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power generation

capital credits

Exercising your privilege to vote

hgraffice — Wed, 24 Jun 2020 15:17:45 +0000

Exercising your privilege to vote

April 27, 2018

Up Front

On Tuesday, May 8, Ohio opens the polls for registered voters to exercise the privilege of free selection in party primaries; to make your voice heard on statewide issues; and to cast your ballot regarding local matters.

In 2016, rural America played a historic part in our national election — 500,000 more rural voters went to the polls than in 2012. This year, we hope to accelerate that momentum by encouraging each of you to join 42 million electric cooperative members across the nation to remind our elected officials that rural issues matter.

In May, Ohioans have the opportunity to decide:

State Issue 1 — an amendment to the Ohio Constitution that will determine a process for redistricting Ohio’s congressional regions.
Candidates for each party for the state offices of governor, attorney general, treasurer, secretary of state, and auditor.
Candidates for two open seats on the Ohio Supreme Court.
Republican and Democratic candidates for a seat in the United States Senate.
Candidates for each seat in the U.S. House of Representatives
Local issues and state representatives

Please do your part by reviewing the issues, familiarizing yourself with the candidates, and preparing to represent yourself, your family, your community, and your cooperative in this year’s election process.

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Broadband and prosperity

hgraffice — Wed, 24 Jun 2020 14:53:05 +0000

Broadband and prosperity

May 31, 2018

Up Front

The internet has changed the way people live and work around the globe. Access to the internet is the emerging essential utility service. In larger cities across the U.S., there’s no concern that high-speed access is available via cable providers, cellular networks, Wi-Fi, and other broadband channels. However, throughout much of rural Ohio and rural America, high-speed internet access, commonly known as “broadband,” isn’t available.

More than 1 million Ohioans lack access to fast, reliable broadband service. Nationally, the figure is a staggering 23 million. Rural broadband deployment should be inherent to the state’s infrastructure plans and development. Broadband is essential for education, health care, and business, including access to global markets.

Rural America already faces stiff economic challenges. Fewer than 15 percent of American businesses are located in rural areas and small towns. Inadequate high-speed internet access is making the problem worse and contributing to the exodus of talented young people from the rural landscape. The convergence of new technology and partnerships has made rural broadband deployment more achievable than ever, but high costs remain the biggest obstacle to distribution in less populated areas.

That’s why Ohio’s Electric Cooperatives strongly supports Ohio House Bill 378, which establishes the Ohio Broadband Grant Program. It’s a good start. However, if we’re going to solve this national problem, we’ll clearly need additional federal investment. Rural Ohio’s need for broadband connectivity is about better access to telehealth services, as well as educational opportunities and increased access to home learning, which, in turn, provides a more skilled rural workforce and an advanced talent pool.

Further, rural broadband service means an enhanced online presence for rural retail outlets, and thus a healthier rural trade economy. For many rural communities, high-speed internet in today’s universal environment means access to prosperity.

Ohio’s Electric Cooperatives is committed to strong and healthy local communities. A vibrant 21st-century rural economy depends on expanded high-speed internet access and electric grid modernization efforts. That’s why we’re working to be a part of the solution to Ohio’s underserved areas.

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Ohio's Electric Cooperatives

broadband

Farm bill front and center

hgraffice — Wed, 24 Jun 2020 14:37:23 +0000

Farm bill front and center

June 1, 2018

Features

Ohio electric cooperative leaders joined more than 2,000 of their counterparts from around the country in April to discuss legislative and regulatory concerns with members of Congress at the 2018 NRECA Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C.

The conference, held annually, allows co-op leaders to build relationships with policymakers that improve their members’ lives every day.

“These relationships are good for the cooperatives and each of their members, and they’re good for our elected representatives,” says Pat O’Loughlin, CEO of Ohio’s Electric Cooperatives, the statewide association that provides services to 25 member cooperatives around the state. “There are issues that affect all of us, and our representatives are giving of their time and efforts to make sure they hear what we have to say.”

At one point, Rep. Jim Jordan, from Ohio’s 4th District, who is chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Health Care, Benefits, and Administrative Rules, literally turned over the gavel to a colleague during that subcommittee’s session so he could join a large Ohio contingent in his Rayburn House office.

It’s that type of engagement that has helped secure $600 million for rural broadband loans and grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture in the omnibus spending bill that was passed by Congress in March. That bill also included $5.5 billion for the federal electric loan program, funding for continued cybersecurity research, and provisions streamlining vegetation management on federal lands — all of which are issues cited as among the most important to electric cooperatives by the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.

At the April session, the farm bill, which was expected to come before Congress in mid-May, was front and center in meetings with legislators, according to Marc Armstrong, director of government affairs at Ohio’s Electric Cooperatives.

“The rural broadband funding in the omnibus was a good down-payment, but there’s a lot more that needs to be done,” Armstrong says. “The farm bill isn’t just about agriculture — it’s also a rural development bill, and must include support for programs that improve the quality of life for rural Americans.”

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broadband

Butler Rural Electric Cooperative

Farm girl with curls

hgraffice — Tue, 23 Jun 2020 19:16:32 +0000

Farm girl with curls

January 3, 2019

Celeste Baumgartner

Co-op People

Lauren Schwab Eyre has carefully and intentionally cultivated her image as a “farm girl with curls.” She not only works on her family’s pig farm near Somerville, but she’s also a well-known agricultural ambassador who uses every opportunity she can to get the message out about her career of choice.

“Not every farmer has a talent or passion for communicating; like my dad, they just love being out in the barnyard taking care of their animals every day and have no interest in going on Facebook or Instagram or YouTube to talk about the farm,” Lauren says. “I have found that I have a talent and a passion for that, and I can use that to tell his story and that of other farmers. There are a lot of misconceptions out there, and if we as farmers aren’t telling our stories, someone else will, and a lot of times, the right messages don’t come across.”

Lauren’s father, Jeff Schwab, is a first-generation farmer who started the family’s pig farm right out of high school. He eventually decided to concentrate on breed-to-wean, and the business, a member of Butler Rural Electric Cooperative, now is home to 1,200 breeding sows that produce around 1,200 piglets every other week.

As farrowing house manager, it’s Lauren’s job to care for those piglets until they’re old enough to wean and move along to another Ohio farmer to be raised for market.

“While the farm started as my dad’s dream, I developed a real satisfaction from working here,” she says. “I want to continue helping him as long as I can.”

As kids, Lauren and her brother, Ryan, spent a lot of time in the barnyard with their dad. He taught them about the importance of caring for animals. Lauren says she came to feel satisfied caring for the pigs, getting them off to a good start and helping to give them the best life possible. She also knew that she was a part of something bigger — helping to feed people around the world.

While in high school, her flair for writing and public speaking blossomed through FFA and her school newspaper. Lauren was the 2008 Ohio Pork Industry queen and the Butler County Junior Fair queen. She went on to study journalism at Miami University, where she wrote about agriculture and found that she was sharing a story and a culture with people who typically would not hear about it.

Now, along with those 10-hour (or longer) days caring for the piglets, Lauren also travels, writes, and blogs at www.farmgirlwithcurls.com. She has served as a national agriculture ambassador for the FFA, presenting workshops to schools and civic organizations, and as an ambassador for the Ohio Pork Producers Council. She also was selected as one of the “New Faces of Farming” by the Farmers and Ranchers Alliance.

“There are so many conferences I go to as part of winning these awards that make it seem like everyone is aware of the agriculture business, but then I have to remind myself that it’s less than 1 percent of the population who are farmers,” Lauren says. “That means there are a lot of people out there we need to reach, and it means a lot to me personally to be able to do my part.”

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farming

Ohio's Electric Cooperatives

Co-ops go to Washington

hgraffice — Tue, 23 Jun 2020 17:54:12 +0000

Co-ops go to Washington

May 1, 2019

Power Lines

The 2016 elections demonstrated the influence of rural voters — and, therefore, let elected officials know in no uncertain terms to pay attention to the needs of rural America.

While the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association has a team of government affairs professionals lobbying Congress every day, local cooperative leaders make an annual trek to Washington, D.C., every April so those federal policymakers hear directly from folks from their district or home state.

Co-ops from around the country send representatives to take part in the Legislative Conference, which this year wrapped up on May 1. Ohio’s electric cooperatives usually send about 65 trustees, CEOs, and key staff members as part of a full-court press that also includes appearances on such outlets as RFD-TV’s Market Day Report, to advocate for the policy positions that affect a co-op’s business and the service co-ops provide to their members.

“The Legislative Conference lets members of Congress put a face to the issues that they’ve been hearing about from our lobbying efforts,” says Marc Armstrong, government affairs director for Ohio’s Electric Cooperatives.

This year, the topics discussed have included tax policy, broadband funding, and the Rural Development Program.

Taxes

Cooperatives are tax exempt, according to the IRS — if more than 85 percent of a cooperative’s income comes from members paying their bills, the cooperative is exempt from federal income tax. A 2017 change in tax law threatens that exemption, however, for co-ops that receive funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Co-ops are asking to fix the law to preserve that status.

Broadband

Electric cooperatives provide power to many areas of Ohio that do not have adequate broadband connectivity. Access to reliable, high-speed internet is vital to maintaining quality education, operating a business, and most effectively managing a farm. Co-ops support broadband funding and policies that encourage rural broadband deployment.

Rural development

The United States Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development Program offers loans, grants, and loan guarantees to support electric, communications, and water infrastructure, as well as first-responder services and equipment. The program helps create jobs and supports economic expansion that is desperately needed in rural Ohio, so co-ops have asked their legislators to support the Rural Development Program and the services it provides.

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