Congratulations! You found the new blog we created to replace the paper newsletter we were sending out with our bills each month. The newsletter presented in this format is simply much cooler than the old paper version. For one thing, we can send you more timely information (often we have issues that come up long before the monthly bills are ready to go out), for another thing, you can talk back to us! That’s right, each post on The Red, Blue & Green is followed by a little link that says “comments.” (check it out below) If you click on that link, you can talk back, make comments about my posts, ask additional questions, argue with me, put me in my place, etc. Once you give this format a try, I think you will really love it.

This change in newsletter format is just a part of our bigger project to totally revamp the way we communicate with our customers. Our billing is going to change, most likely in February or March, to a totally new look which we trust you will find much easier to read and understand. Upon that change, we will likely start printing a brief summary of the newsletter information on the back of the new bills (that way those without access to a computer or internet will still be able to get some of the latest information about the EPB and the work we are doing), but that too will just be a short-term solution. The other part of our plan is to launch a new, full-color magazine which will be delivered quarterly (hopefully starting in April 2008). When this launches we will have much of the same information in it as we used to put in the newsletter, along with other timely and exciting items of interest to our customers. So, when all the pieces fall into place, we will be communicating with you via this blog (virtually daily), via our new billing format as extra text on the back of the bill, and finally through a new magazine that will be delivered four times a year. The really good thing about all of this is that we should be getting you much more information and still saving a lot of money over the way we have been printing the newsletter and mailing the bills in the past. This appears to be a win-win for everyone.

Electric Power Rate Change. If you get your electricity from the EPB, there is another matter we need to discuss a bit this month. Recently our Board approved a rate increase of about 2% for electric power, billed after January 1, 2008. If you are a regular reader of this newsletter, you have heard about our plans to reinforce the electric power grid in Glasgow by adding a second primary delivery point substation on the east side of town. The rate increase is designed to raise the funds necessary to build this project which is estimated to cost about $6 million. However, there is more to this story, and, amazingly, it means we are getting a lucky break (and after our recent run of bad luck relative to the November 5 storm that hit our buildings, we need a lucky break)!

Our luck comes in the form of the TVA Fuel Cost Adjustment (FCA). This is the mechanism whereby TVA adjusts our rates each quarter depending on their cost of fuel during the previous quarter. The good news is that the TVA FCA will result in an actual decrease on January 1. The really good news is that the TVA FCA decrease will be larger than the 2% increase that we need to put in place to finance our new substation. So, your electric rates will actually stay about the same on January 1, 2008! Merry Christmas indeed! Of course, all good things tend to come to an end and TVA will get another shot at the FCA in April, but until then enjoy the electric power rate stability.