Blog Archive

Monday, January 31, 2011

Facebook Friends Find Fabulous Free Stuff!

About 500 of you have already found the EPB Facebook page and follow our posts there, but the rest of you might have missed this amazing opportunity. Glasgow EPB’s status as a research site for TVA and Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) has opened a door for a few more test sites for the new General Electric Hybrid Heat Pump Water Heater.

Here is the announcement that we posted last week on our Facebook page:

Good morning! Here's a special offer for our FB fans! How would you like to have a heat pump water heater...for FREE? We're partnering with TVA and EPRI for a project and we have 7 available. The criteria: own your home; 4 persons or less in your household; must have EPB internet service; and, currently have an electric hot water heater located in a garage or unheated basement. Let us hear from you!

So, first of all, if you want to be in the group that hears about these opportunities first, please “Like” our Facebook page by clicking on this Facebook link and clicking on the “Like” button at the top of the Glasgow Electric Plant Board page. This will add you to the growing list of folks who will get the latest information from us automatically on your Facebook news feed.
Then, take a few minutes to read about this fantastic new water heating technology by visiting the General Electric site by clicking on this link. If you look at one of these appliances at your local hardware store, you will see that these retail for about $1300 plus installation. If you qualify for this project, you will get the unit for free in return for you simply allowing EPRI to monitor its performance in your home for an extended period of time.

This is just another benefit of living in Glasgow and being a customer of Glasgow EPB.
Give us a call or an email if you are interested in volunteering your home for this project.
Thursday, January 20, 2011

Internet Outage on Sunday Night

Sunday night, January 23, we will be doing major work on our internet service. This project will commence at about 11:00 p.m. and should take about two hours. During this time, all Glasgow EPB internet customers will be without internet service.

We have scheduled this work at the time and day of the week when the least amount of traffic is normally on our network. Still, this will be an inconvenience for some, but we really feel that the new equipment we will be installing will make this outage worth the trouble. This upgrade will make everyone in Glasgow have even faster and more reliable internet service through Glasgow EPB.

This will be the first of two such outages which will be required to complete our current internet upgrade plans. We will let you know when the next outage will take place as soon as all equipment is ready to be installed. Thank you for your attention and understanding of the necessity of this outage.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011

2011 Brings Three Things to Glasgow

So far, trying to peer into 2011 has been constantly hampered by constant snow fall, but there are big issues for us to ponder. Gather around the monitor and we will chat for a bit about 2011 and three of the things that it will bring to Glasgow.

In February Glasgow EPB will be bringing East Glasgow Primary Substation on line. That means Glasgow will go from getting all of its electric power through a single, 1974 vintage, substation, to an arrangement where half of it comes through the old substation and the other half comes through an ultra-modern, 2011 vintage, facility. At the same time, we will be upgrading our structure at Gorin Park where Glasgow can also receive power from East Kentucky Power during a brief emergency (and the flip side is also true as we will be able to help deliver power to East Kentucky and its local distributor, Farmers RECC, more effectively should they have the need). These improvements will dramatically increase our chances of avoiding very long outages that could occur if our old delivery point substation were to suffer a catastrophic failure. This is a good thing which will enhance our lives in Glasgow as we look forward into a future where violent weather events are more and more common.

While the work is winding down on the new substation, we are also doing serious remodeling and refurbishing work on some other substations and transmission lines in Glasgow. When all of this is completed in early 2011, your electric power grid will have new life and reliability. Of course, even after this “facelift” a well placed squirrel, bird, snake, tree, or errant vehicle can still cause a power outage. So don’t throw out your flashlight and battery operated radio just yet.

Around the middle of the year the second big thing will hit Glasgow in the form of TOU (Time Of Use) electric rates. Since the coming of electric power to our region, that power has been priced on a cents per kWH basis such that the cost was the same no matter when power was consumed. However, over the last several years, due to aging TVA generating plants and the cost of replacing them, the cost of producing power at different times of the day now varies wildly. This year those fluctuating costs will finally be experienced by the users of that power. By mid-2011, if folks are willing to take steps to change the way they use energy, this change could mean lower electric bills. If folks refuse to pay attention and alter their usage patterns, electricity bills will go up considerably.

As the next few weeks unfold, we will be using this newsletter, our television advertising, our blog, our Facebook page (please "like" the Glasgow Electric Plant Board Facebook page if you haven't already!), and every other form of local media to communicate with you about this changing electric power environment. Stay tuned and be prepared to alter the way you interact with your appliances and we can all enjoy the fact that Glasgow has been preparing for this change for many years. We do not have to fear this change!

The third item will not hit us until the last couple of months of 2011, but it is not too early to start thinking about it. At the end of the year we will be negotiating with broadcasters for permission to carry them on our cable system. The negotiations will be very predictable. They will all want more money in exchange for permission for us to carry them. We will be wanting to pay less, or nothing for that permission, and you will be deciding how tough we should be in those discussions. We are anxious to see if the same thinking that swept so many ultra conservative candidates into our Congress will be echoed locally on this subject. Did you know that we are now forced to pay broadcasters like WBKO over $40,000 per year for the rights to put up an antenna, pick up their signal out of the air, and deliver it to you? Do you realize that three years ago when we last negotiated these rates the community asked that we carry even more stations from Nashville and Louisville and that these demands resulted in payments like this to multiple stations in Bowling Green, Nashville, and Louisville (do we really need this many broadcast stations?) and that this resulted in higher cable television rates? Will local folks demand more broadcast channels again this fall, or will the anger over irresponsible spending in our Congress spread to Glasgow and become a demand for us to cut out some broadcasters to save money? Are we really willing to cut services and spending on services to ourselves, or is this just brave talk? These questions must be answered right here in Glasgow as 2011 unfolds.

It is going to be a great year!
Wednesday, January 5, 2011

IMPORTANT NOTICE FROM GLASGOW EPB!

Even though they previously promised to cease their practice of using untruths and deception in their attempts to gain internet and video customers from us, the folks at Windstream are apparently at it again. In the last 24 hours we have gotten multiple reports from customers saying that Windstream representatives have told them that EPB is leaving the internet business and that folks must convert to them. THIS IS TOTALLY UNTRUE!

Glasgow EPB is asking the former customers of Cinergy/Norlight to find alternative telephone service. This has nothing to do with our internet service which was just recently upgraded and improved for the long-term future. Please do not fall victim to these determined and unscrupulous sales folks from out of town! Glasgow EPB will not be leaving the internet business, period. Thanks for helping us stop this newest attack from these "nice folks."