10:12 AM | 
Posted by
Billy Ray |
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Storms, Trees, and Newspaper Articles
Today's Glasgow Daily Times has an excellent article about the recent storms and the problems they have caused us in dealing with the damage. While the article is completely accurate and true to what I said in the board meeting, I should have done a better job of explaining myself in that meeting. So, I am going to try that now.
The problematic part of my remarks related to downed conductors during storms. No matter what the tone of my remarks was in the meeting and in the article, the one thing that must be remembered is that any downed conductor should be treated as if it were energized and deadly. Although my remarks sounded fine to me as I said them (I'm sure this surprises no one), when I read them in the Glasgow Daily Times, they sounded terrible.
I was trying to explain the problems of having enough personnel to respond to the many calls about downed conductors during several days of intense storms. While it is true that we often can make a judgement about whether a conductor is energized or not from our dispatch center using our telemetry, we still want to get someone out to look at each of them before anyone touches, drives over, or comes near any downed conductor. The problem is, when we have thousands of folks without power and it is 2:00 a.m. and we have only a limited number of folks to respond, it is likely to take a while for us to get there to take a look at a downed conductor. Calling 911 instead of our number does not help the situation at all, it fact, it endangers folks who may have critical information to get to the emergency services folks.
This line of intense, day-after-day weather taxes our team that is designed to be responsive to the sort of weather we get 98% of the time. The only message we meant to get out is that unusually violent weather can cause our response to take longer than usual and we all need to recognize that. But, even if you have to wait a while, treat all downed conductors as deadly energized hazards until someone from our team can arrive to survey the situation.
The problematic part of my remarks related to downed conductors during storms. No matter what the tone of my remarks was in the meeting and in the article, the one thing that must be remembered is that any downed conductor should be treated as if it were energized and deadly. Although my remarks sounded fine to me as I said them (I'm sure this surprises no one), when I read them in the Glasgow Daily Times, they sounded terrible.
I was trying to explain the problems of having enough personnel to respond to the many calls about downed conductors during several days of intense storms. While it is true that we often can make a judgement about whether a conductor is energized or not from our dispatch center using our telemetry, we still want to get someone out to look at each of them before anyone touches, drives over, or comes near any downed conductor. The problem is, when we have thousands of folks without power and it is 2:00 a.m. and we have only a limited number of folks to respond, it is likely to take a while for us to get there to take a look at a downed conductor. Calling 911 instead of our number does not help the situation at all, it fact, it endangers folks who may have critical information to get to the emergency services folks.
This line of intense, day-after-day weather taxes our team that is designed to be responsive to the sort of weather we get 98% of the time. The only message we meant to get out is that unusually violent weather can cause our response to take longer than usual and we all need to recognize that. But, even if you have to wait a while, treat all downed conductors as deadly energized hazards until someone from our team can arrive to survey the situation.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Roll Over or Get Tough?
When we fill our vehicles with fuel these days it is impossible not to feel powerless in the face of the big oil companies. When we paid our taxes this week, it is certain that we all felt we paid too much, but we felt just as powerless to change that. We watch the budget process in Washington and in Frankfort and we see waste and greed but we see no way for us little folks in Glasgow to stop it. We feel powerless on all of these matters, but there is another budget battle coming that you can make a difference in – the cost of your cable television service from Glasgow EPB.
The biggest expense we have in providing your television service is what we pay for the programming you enjoy, and that big expense is getting so big that it can no longer be ignored. When we started our cable service in 1988, we charged $13.50 per month for classic basic cable. In the next twenty three years we increased the price we charge for classic basic by just over 100% while the programmers increased their fees 650%! You do not have to be a financial wizard to see how much pressure the programming cost puts on the rates you pay for cable. Just last month, one of Glasgow’s favorite channels, Fox News, increased their fees by 300%! And you thought the oil companies were greedy?
Before the end of this year we will get a chance to strike back against some of the programmers, the broadcast stations to be specific, as they all have to decide if we can carry them on our cable system for the next three years and what that privilege will cost us. You can actually participate in this decision as it will be made right here in Glasgow and we will do what the majority of our customers demand. Should we continue to roll over for the likes of WBKO and WNKY and the many other broadcast stations we carry out of Nashville and Louisville, or should we get tough and drop them if they cannot control their greed? We have until the end of the year on these decisions, so you have time to think about it and get back to us. Could we live with only one ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox station? Must we have duplicates from Nashville and Louisville? Could we live with an ABC from Nashville instead of WBKO in Bowling Green? Here is your chance to be empowered. What will you decide?
The biggest expense we have in providing your television service is what we pay for the programming you enjoy, and that big expense is getting so big that it can no longer be ignored. When we started our cable service in 1988, we charged $13.50 per month for classic basic cable. In the next twenty three years we increased the price we charge for classic basic by just over 100% while the programmers increased their fees 650%! You do not have to be a financial wizard to see how much pressure the programming cost puts on the rates you pay for cable. Just last month, one of Glasgow’s favorite channels, Fox News, increased their fees by 300%! And you thought the oil companies were greedy?
Before the end of this year we will get a chance to strike back against some of the programmers, the broadcast stations to be specific, as they all have to decide if we can carry them on our cable system for the next three years and what that privilege will cost us. You can actually participate in this decision as it will be made right here in Glasgow and we will do what the majority of our customers demand. Should we continue to roll over for the likes of WBKO and WNKY and the many other broadcast stations we carry out of Nashville and Louisville, or should we get tough and drop them if they cannot control their greed? We have until the end of the year on these decisions, so you have time to think about it and get back to us. Could we live with only one ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox station? Must we have duplicates from Nashville and Louisville? Could we live with an ABC from Nashville instead of WBKO in Bowling Green? Here is your chance to be empowered. What will you decide?
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Let's Review Glasgow's Relationship to Nuclear Power
Since the cable television side of our business is presently delivering a steady stream of news about the disasters in Japan, it is only fair that we talk about the electric side of our business and how it is impacted by the total failure of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. We all want to know what this means for us here in Glasgow, and we think there are a few outcomes which are certainly possible.
While we have no idea how things will play out from here with the doomed plant in Japan, and we don’t know anything about the potential health effects for us here in Glasgow from that plant so far away, we do know a bit about the TVA operated nuclear units. TVA has six working nuclear units today. They are: Browns Ferry (at Wheeler Reservoir in North Alabama), Sequoyah (near Chattanooga, TN), and Watts Bar (at Spring City, TN). TVA is also working on a new reactor at the Watts Bar site which will bring them up to seven units total. None of these sites is ever going to be affected by a tsunami, but a well placed tornado or two, even an earthquake, might cause some issues.
The attached video was produced this week by TVA to address many of the questions that area residents might have about their units and what they are doing in the wake of the failure of the plant in Japan. We encourage you to watch this video.
In the longer term, we need to discuss what happens if this disaster causes widespread dissatisfaction with TVA’s use of nuclear power. That is the real issue which we think will impact us in Glasgow. The truth is, there really is no way to generate large amounts of electric power without negative impact on our water, air, soil, and our health. For the last several decades, we, as a people, have been content to trade the comfort and convenience offered by relatively cheap electric power for the health issues created by producing that cheap power. While this is a fact, when one puts that in a sentence it is really unbelievable. We have been trading our health for cheap electric power? And we did this of our own free will? Amazing. What is wrong with us?
TVA has been recognizing the health and environmental issues associated with coal-fired generation of late and they have been moving toward more nuclear generation, and a half-hearted effort to reduce electric power demand, to replace the aging coal-fired fleet. Until this week, it was a consensus opinion that this was a good move, even though new nuclear units are frightfully expensive and TVA’s coming Time Of Use electric rates offer little incentive to get folks motivated to reduce demand. This week, no one knows if that consensus will hold. One this is certain though; Glasgow EPB’s preparation for converting to infotricity is still a viable solution and it will not have any negative impact on our health or environment.
We still believe that there is a vast reserve of electric power available through using the product wisely. We believe our electric network, broadband network, and other technologies can, with the cooperation of our customers, orchestrate a system whereby water heaters, thermostats, and major home appliances can work together in one system to live on ever smaller amounts of electric power generation capacity. We believe it makes much more sense to spend the money that would be spent on new nuclear generation, on better technology, smart appliances, and thermal storage HVAC devices for our homes and businesses. The net effect would be the same additional capacity for the electric grid, but it would be distributed across the region with investments made in millions of homes, instead of just at one address where new reactor vessels and containment buildings would rise.
What scenario will actually unfold as a result of the Japanese tsunami? You get to decide. Will you demand to maintain your home at the same temperature, winter and summer, as you have for the last fifty years? If so, you are voting for the “just build more expensive generation plants” solution. If you are willing to modify the way you have been using power and adapt to our infotricity concepts, you are voting for moving away from the solutions of the past and embracing a future which may be more wonderful than we can even imagine. How will you vote?
Monday, March 7, 2011
The Plunge
The EPB took the plunge last Saturday! Well… Maybe we should say one brave soul did. Check out this video footage from the 2011 Penguin Plunge, where EPB Engineering Tech. Chris Smith braved the rain and plunged into the ice cold water, to help raise money for Junior Achievement!
Monday, February 14, 2011
Don Doty Leaves the EPB Board of Directors
On the occasion of Don Doty’s departure from the board of Glasgow EPB, it is fitting for us to review the impact he has had on Glasgow in general, and on the EPB in particular. For those of you who know Don, you will already know how much of an impact he had on the direction of the EPB. For those of you who do not know him, this post will attempt to inform you about this man’s work to forge this place we call home.
Surely most of us have seen the award winning movie Patton. While I never knew Gen. Patton, knowing Don Doty has given me a glimpse into what the General must have been like. My favorite line in the movie comes during an exchange between Gen. Omar Bradley and Brig. Gen. Hobart Carver. In the scene Bradley says, “What we really need is... someone tough enough to really pull this outfit together.” Carver responds, “Patton?” Bradley replies, “Perhaps.” Then Carver delivers the line, with a smile, “God help us!” Even though I wasn’t yet out of high school when Don was dispatched to Glasgow to oversee the creation of the Eaton Axle plant in 1971, and I wasn’t yet at the EPB when he took a place on the board in 1982, I am pretty sure those words were also uttered in both instances.
Don Doty came to Glasgow to oversee the design and construction of the Eaton Axle plant. After it was constructed, he took over as Plant Manager and made the facility a shining star in the Eaton universe until it was sold to Dana. That facility provided jobs and a life for thousands of families during his tenure there. In contrast to the management trends for large industries in Glasgow today, Don and Jamie moved here to Glasgow and became part of the fabric of the community. They created a family here and that family too became a part of the community and they continue to serve and improve our corner of the world. After being sent here, Don passed on several opportunities for further advancement because of his dedication to this place he chose to call home. Greater riches were not enough to convince him to abandon the work he was doing in Glasgow, and all of us benefit from his dedication to our community.
In 1982 Don’s interest in the community and his belief that the needs of the very largest of EPB’s customers (Eaton Axle was then the second largest consumer of electric power in Glasgow - in fact, Eaton’s successor, Dana, is still the second largest) should be represented on the EPB board, lead him to seek appointment to the board. Mayor Twyman agreed and appointed Don to fill the unexpired term of Luke Wells in 1982. At that time Glasgow EPB was scarcely twenty years old.
I met Don about a year later when I had dinner with he and Robert Lessenberry and Norma Redford at the old Bolton’s Landing Restaurant. It was supposed to be a job interview, but Don’s presence and his tendency to ask exceedingly difficult questions, for which there was no apparent correct answer, turned it into cruel and unusual punishment for me. Don is an imposing physical and verbal presence. When I was offered the job and I realized I would be working for him and four other board members, I too said, “God help us!”
Over the next twenty eight years, Don Doty provided the wise counsel and leadership, and the steel backbone, that was essential to form the Glasgow EPB that exists today. He helped me learn how to build and maintain a team of professionals. He gave us valuable insight into the workings of a major industry and helped us understand how to serve them well. He provided the rock solid foundation of confidence that made us believe we could conquer the cable television and broadband worlds. He thought us capable of pulling away from TVA and a few years later, when the power business just did not unfold for us as we thought, he was a crucial element of reversing that decision.
Today, as Glasgow EPB looks at its 50th birthday, Don is passing the torch of leadership on to another capable member of our community, Cheryl Berry Ambach. We look forward to her leadership and we feel confident that the EPB will continue to grow in its mission to serve the community during her tenure. But, we will miss Don and wish him well in whatever battle he chooses next. One thing is certain, when he decides what project to take on next, somewhere there will be someone saying, “God help us!”
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Something Scary in Your Mailbox
When I got my most recent electric bill for my house, I was a bit surprised, and I am supposed to be an expert on such things. So, it would likely be a good time for us all to discuss the electric and gas bills you are getting right now, and the ones you will get next month too. While we all know this winter has been one for the record books, the memory of the snow will melt long before the sting of the cost of staying warm this winter fades away. The truth is, Glasgow EPB is sending out some of the very largest residential electric bills we have ever mailed.
The reason for these sizable bills is pretty simple. It has been colder, for longer, this winter than nearly any other winter on record. . .and it is not over. When you combine sustained low temperatures and day after day of strong winds to go along with those temperatures, the heating systems in our homes struggle to keep us warm. Since the capacity of the heating systems is fixed, the only way they can make up for the demand for warm air is to run longer, and that sucks down a lot more energy. If you heat with electricity, that results in much larger electric bills. If you heat with gas, you already know that this winter has produced staggering gas bills and higher electric bills just from running the blower for the gas heat system.
What can a person do to reduce this financial shock? Well, in the short term for what remains of this winter, not a lot other than keeping the thermostat no higher than 68 degrees (for every degree you set the thermostat higher than 68, your monthly heating cost goes up about 3%), and looking for more cracks around windows and doors that can be quickly sealed with caulk or weather-stripping.
In the longer term, to get ready for this summer and the next winter, TVA has a couple of options to help. First, you can go to www.energyright.com and complete the online energy evaluation. You’ll get a range of ideas and suggested improvements you might make to improve the energy efficiency of your home and lower your electric bills. After you complete the online audit, you will receive a free energy conservation kit you can put to use immediately, as well as a free customized energy report to help you see where your home is wasting energy.
The second, and much more aggressive, option is to contact TVA and ask for an in-home Energy Evaluation. There is a $150 charge for this extensive evaluation but you might be able to get that refunded easily. Once you contact them and pay the fee, they will send a certified evaluator to inspect your home and make easy energy efficiency recommendations. You can reduce your power bill and receive a cash rebate for installing the recommended home energy improvements. To sign up for the In-home Energy Evaluation, visit this link and follow the instructions to schedule your visit. Once you’ve received your audit and completed the recommended energy efficiency upgrades, you’ll be eligible for a reimbursement of the cost of the evaluation, as well as up to $500 in reimbursement for the upgrades you make! You can find all of the details when you call to schedule your In-home Energy Evaluation.
In the mean time, just remember to plan for an electric bill that is quite large compared to your normal winter electric bill. Remember, this is far from a regular winter.
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