Monday, December 7, 2015
EPB Internet Upgrade Time is Now
5:00 PM | 
Posted by
Billy Ray |
Glasgow EPB
has traditionally given its internet customers a Christmas gift in the form of
increased download speeds for the coming year. This year, the tradition
continues as we will increase our standard internet download speeds as well as
our upload speeds. All of our cable modem products will receive upgrades at no
additional cost. Merry Christmas!
It certainly
is not as easy to do this as it might sound. In order for us to make this improvement
for 2016, we are replacing the very heart of our cable modem system with a much
more powerful piece of hardware and software. And, like all big construction
projects, there will be some inconvenience before everyone gets to enjoy the
upgrades. On Wednesday December 9, at midnight, we will take down our internet service so we can install the new hardware. The work should be completed by 6:00 am on Thursday.
Some of this
work is already ongoing. A lot of the space we freed up by converting the
analog cable channels to digital will be used to allow many years of upgrades
to the internet system. Now that most of the digital conversion project is
done, we are now about to begin an operation similar to a heart and lung
transplant, but in our case we must do that operation while the patient is
still walking down the street! It is going to be difficult and complicated, but
that is what we do.
Please stay
tuned to our blog, our Facebook page, and Cable6 for updates on this project.
Tuesday, December 1, 2015
Informational Bills Continue
As November
comes to a close it is a good time to again discuss the matter of the coming
change in the way our electric rates work.
During the
last couple of weeks all EPB electric customers should have gotten an
informational paper bill which was sent out separately from the regular
billing. This paper bill represented a comparison to the actual billing each
customer got for their October usage. The bill used actual October usage for
each customer and provided information about how their October bill would have
looked under the new 2106 rates.
Nothing about
this informational bill should be seen as a fixed result. The information was
for October consumption, and most folks who saw an increase in the bill
compared to the actual bill can change that by simply trying to reduce their
usage during the monthly peak hour (coincident peak demand). Everyone will not
be able to save money using this tactic, but many can.
Over the next
few weeks everyone will get another informational bill which uses the new rates
applied to November electric power usage. We plan to do this again for December
consumption as well. In this fashion, everyone will get three informational
bills which will provide comparison bills for October, November, and December.
It is our hope that these examples will help all EPB electric customers become
familiar with this new way of purchasing energy.
If the
informational bills do not answer all questions, then there are other ways to
do so. We created www.infotricity.net just for the purpose of answering
questions on the new rate. We also created the Infotricity Energy Portal https://portal.glasgow-ky.com/ so that every single electric meter
in Glasgow can be monitored by the account holder in real time so long as they
have internet access. In fact, the portal has a bill comparison feature that
will allow customers to compare their bills under the new rate to their bills
under the old rate for a full year. The very best customized information for
all of our electric customers can be obtained by signing up for the Infotricity
Energy Portal site and visiting it often.
Tuesday, November 24, 2015
Digital Cable Channels Conversion -- The Updated Report
In September we began a project to convert all of our old analog delivered cable television channels to new digitally delivered channels. The project is necessary because analog delivery is a dead technology, and we can no longer buy equipment that supports analog services. Time marches on, even in Glasgow. We put up a good fight to maintain our analog channels far beyond the time when all other cable systems had already abandoned analog transmission, but the time has come for us make this overdue transition. This post is an update on how the project has gone, and is still going.
When we began informing customers of the upcoming analog shutdown through Facebook, the RBG Blog, Weather channel crawl, Cable 6 ads, "Analog Shutdown" screen put on random channels, and our website (the Glasgow Daily Times even helped us by running articles about the transition), we did not plan for the project to last this long. Actually, we planned to finish this by November 2. On Oct. 28 we turned off eight analog channels, Ch. 7-Ch.12, Ch. 21 & Ch. 22. Once these channels were shut down, our phones lit up and we began to really understand how many folks were not ready for the transition. Far fewer customers were ready than we had estimated. As a result, there was a mad rush for the DTA boxes necessary to adapt analog televisions to receive digital signals. With the help of every member of the EPB team, we installed approximately 1,100 DTAs from October 28 up to November 16. Though we said that we would turn the analog channels off on Nov. 2, once we realized how many customers needed the DTAs, we began altering our plans and rushed to change our schedules with the various programming vendors with which we do business.
By November 16th we had the DTA install list down to under 40 customers. We turned off HGTV, FOOD, TRAVEL, & GAC (Great American Country). Surprisingly we had very few phone calls that day and only a couple that night. So, on Tuesday November 17 we decided to turn off 10 more analog channels, including everything above Ch. 65: Cartoon Network, ABC Family, E!, truTV, SyFy, History, FS1, FXX, CSpan, CSpan2. Once again, our phones and our Facebook page lit up and we were shocked to learn how many customers still were not prepared for the transition. So, we ordered even more DTAs and began installing and issuing them. We have now pushed out 1,300 DTAs to quench the demand. The last 100 ordered, arrived this morning and will be depleted through next Thursday's DTA schedule, so we are ordering 100 more. This is triple the number of DTAs that we estimated we would need!
We are very sorry for all of the confusion and frustration this project has caused, but we know the network will deliver superior services as soon as we can complete the construction work associated with this transition. All analog channels will be turned off by January 2 2016. So anyone wanting a new television for Christmas or looking for a Black Friday deal, make sure you are getting a television that supports Digital QAM tuner. This will keep you from needing a DTA. After that, all the remaining digital services will be reorganized by Feb. 18, 2016 to accommodate dramatic new services for our customers. We know that you, like us, are very anxious for that to happen!
So, that is where we are on this long and complicated project. We thank you all for your patience as we work through this drastic improvement to Glasgow's network.
Monday, November 2, 2015
October Proved Another Good Month for Savings under our Rates for 2016
October worked out very well at my house relative to my energy usage and peak demand under the rates that will be in effect next year. Using the "New Bill" feature of our Infotricity Energy
Portal (as you can see above), my bill under the new rates would be $7.00 lower than it is under our existing rates!
In October Glasgow set it highest hourly demand on October 8 at 2:00 in the afternoon. Your EPB team predicted that afternoon as a possible monthly peak (and making that prediction so early in the month is very tough) so I raised the setting on my air conditioning for the afternoon and also put off any other significant electric power consumption until after 4:00 pm. That is all I did. It did not require any expensive technology nor did it take large changes in the way my home operates. I moved my thermostat set temperature from 75 up to 80 for four hours. The result was a contribution to Glasgow's peak demand of only .37 kW and that is the reason why I would have saved $7.00 under the 2016 rate.
We
don't want to sound like a broken record about this, but if you are not
monitoring your home's energy usage and using the bill comparison tool
on your Infotricity Energy Portal at https://portal.glasgow-ky.com/ you
are missing a great opportunity to practice changing your energy usage
so that you can best adapt to the new rates which will go into effect on
January 1 2016. But please be aware, if you use the comparison on the
first few days of the month, it is going to look shocking. Since the
Coincident Peak Demand resets at midnight on the first of each month,
then each hour of the new month becomes the peak hour for the month. The
result is that you will see some surprising Coincident Peak Demand
numbers until the data settles and the weather causes a legitimate peak
demand.
Within the next few days, everyone will get a paper version of this comparison, just to make sure that everyone is informed of the coming rate change. This version of you bill will be marked clearly "DO NOT PAY" but it will offer comparison of your consumption for the month just ended as it would be billed under the 2016 rates. As you can see, these rates will be like nothing you have experienced before as they are unique in our nation. We are also launching a new website totally devoted to giving you more information about the new rates. You can visit it at www.infotricity.org where many of your questions and confusion about the new rates will be answered and straightened out. Very soon we will also launch our Infotricity Energy Channel on channel 2 of our cable system. The channel will add another way for you to learn more about your energy usage and ways to lower your electric bill.
The new rates will precisely track each customer's use of energy as individual usage matches up to the wholesale rates we must pay TVA for the electric power we all enjoy. After January 1 there will be different rates for on-peak kWh and off-peak kWh during most months and, most importantly, there will be a coincident peak demand charge which represents each account's contribution to the maximum hourly peak for the month. These rates should begin to reshape the way energy is used each day in Glasgow, and that reshaping will allow TVA to make more of our energy with lower cost, and much more environmentally sustainable, energy sources. In the long run, we will all benefit from a reduction in the construction of new generation facilities, and we will be properly positioned to maximize our utilization of renewable energy resources. This concept begins in Glasgow, but we hope it will quickly spread to other TVA utilities. As that happens, each community's environmental footprint will shrink and we will all leave the region in better shape than we found it.
In October Glasgow set it highest hourly demand on October 8 at 2:00 in the afternoon. Your EPB team predicted that afternoon as a possible monthly peak (and making that prediction so early in the month is very tough) so I raised the setting on my air conditioning for the afternoon and also put off any other significant electric power consumption until after 4:00 pm. That is all I did. It did not require any expensive technology nor did it take large changes in the way my home operates. I moved my thermostat set temperature from 75 up to 80 for four hours. The result was a contribution to Glasgow's peak demand of only .37 kW and that is the reason why I would have saved $7.00 under the 2016 rate.
Within the next few days, everyone will get a paper version of this comparison, just to make sure that everyone is informed of the coming rate change. This version of you bill will be marked clearly "DO NOT PAY" but it will offer comparison of your consumption for the month just ended as it would be billed under the 2016 rates. As you can see, these rates will be like nothing you have experienced before as they are unique in our nation. We are also launching a new website totally devoted to giving you more information about the new rates. You can visit it at www.infotricity.org where many of your questions and confusion about the new rates will be answered and straightened out. Very soon we will also launch our Infotricity Energy Channel on channel 2 of our cable system. The channel will add another way for you to learn more about your energy usage and ways to lower your electric bill.
The new rates will precisely track each customer's use of energy as individual usage matches up to the wholesale rates we must pay TVA for the electric power we all enjoy. After January 1 there will be different rates for on-peak kWh and off-peak kWh during most months and, most importantly, there will be a coincident peak demand charge which represents each account's contribution to the maximum hourly peak for the month. These rates should begin to reshape the way energy is used each day in Glasgow, and that reshaping will allow TVA to make more of our energy with lower cost, and much more environmentally sustainable, energy sources. In the long run, we will all benefit from a reduction in the construction of new generation facilities, and we will be properly positioned to maximize our utilization of renewable energy resources. This concept begins in Glasgow, but we hope it will quickly spread to other TVA utilities. As that happens, each community's environmental footprint will shrink and we will all leave the region in better shape than we found it.
Monday, October 5, 2015
September - A Good Month for Saving Under the New 2016 Rates
In September Glasgow set it highest hourly demand on September 3 at 3:00 in the afternoon. Your EPB team predicted that afternoon as a possible monthly peak (and making that prediction so early in the month is very tough) so I raised the setting on my air conditioning for the afternoon and also put off any other significant electric power consumption until after 4:00 pm. That is all I did. It did not require any expensive technology nor did it take large changes in the way my home operates. I moved my thermostat set temperature from 75 up to 80 for four hours. The result was a contribution to Glasgow's peak demand of only .64 kW and that is the reason why I would have saved $6.00 under the 2016 rate.
We don't want to be too repetitive about this, but if you are not monitoring your home's energy usage and using the bill comparison tool on your Infotricity Energy Portal at https://portal.glasgow-ky.com/ you are missing a great opportunity to practice changing your energy usage so that you can best adapt to the new rates which will go into effect on January 1 2016. But please be aware, if you use the comparison on the first few days of the month, it is going to look shocking. Since the Coincident Peak Demand resets at midnight on the first of each month, then each hour of the new month becomes the peak hour for the month. The result is that you will see some surprising Coincident Peak Demand numbers until the data settles and the weather causes a legitimate peak demand. As you can see, these rates will be like nothing you have experienced before as they are unique in our nation. We are also launching a new website totally devoted to giving you more information about the new rates. You can visit it at www.infotricity.org where many of your questions and confusion about the new rates will be answered and straightened out.
The new rates will precisely track each customer's use of energy as individual usage matches up to the wholesale rates we must pay TVA for the electric power we all enjoy. After January 1 there will be different rates for on-peak kWh and off-peak kWh and, most importantly, there will be a coincident peak demand charge which represents each account's contribution to the maximum hourly peak for the month. These rates should begin to reshape the way energy is used each day in Glasgow, and that reshaping will allow TVA to make more of our energy with lower cost, and much more environmentally sustainable, energy sources. In the long run, we will all benefit from a reduction in the construction of new generation facilities, and we will be properly positioned to maximize our utilization of renewable energy resources. This concept begins in Glasgow, but we hope it will quickly spread to other TVA utilities. As that happens, each community's environmental footprint will shrink and we will all leave the region in better shape than we found it.
Wednesday, September 30, 2015
Glasgow, Your All Digital Cable Television has Arrived
If you
purchase your internet service from Glasgow EPB, you should know that, by the
end of 2015, we plan some really big equipment upgrades and those upgrades will
open the door to even faster speeds for our service, and we hope to be able to
provide those faster speeds at the same rate you are already paying.
If you
purchase your cable television service from Glasgow EPB, there are also some
big changes coming. These changes are necessary to make room on Glasgow’s
broadband network for the more robust internet speeds we have planned. For some
of you, the upcoming change will mean that an old friend or two in the house –
I’m talking about any older televisions that do not have a digital tuner, may
not work as it is after November 1. But we do have a solution or two that
should make this transition easy.
We are about
to convert all of our old analog television channels to a digital format. That
means we can condense several channels into the space presently being used by
one channel, and we can use all of that freed up space to allow the internet
services to flourish. But, if you have a television without a set top box, and
if that television is old enough that it has no digital tuner, then you are
going to need a DTA box from us if you want to keep that television going. We
are going to rent them for $3 per month, but you also might want to just
upgrade to newer television technology and save yourself the extra $3 per
month. That decision is totally up to you.
If you have
any television that has a picture tube, then it almost certainly does not have
a digital tuner. If you have an older flat screen television (think pre-2008)
it probably doesn’t have a digital tuner either. Remember, this only matters if
you presently run a cable directly to your set without using one of the EPB
set-top boxes. If you have a box then none of this matters to you and
everything will keep working fine.
Everyone has
a full month to ponder this and decide how they want to proceed. We are running
both our digital lineup and the old analog lineup together now, so you can
start moving toward the DTA box or toward replacing your non-digital tuner set
any time. But remember, after November 1 the analog channels will disappear as
part of our work to upgrade the internet service, so make plans for your
changes during October. As always, if you have any questions about this matter,
please give us a call at 270-651-8341 or email Eddie Russell at eddie@glasgow-ky.com
or Facebook message us through our page at https://www.facebook.com/glasgowepb
Tuesday, September 1, 2015
My August Bill in 2015 and 2016
Now that August is over, you might want to review your energy usage for the month, just like I am doing. Although we had a remarkably mild August, we still had a very steep peak demand back on August 4, and, had our 2016 rates been in effect, it looks like my bill would have been about $6 higher under the new rates. You can, and really should, check out how the new rates would have impacted your home or business and see your comparison, just like the one shown above for my home, by going to https://portal.glasgow-ky.com/login.php and logging in, or signing up if you haven't yet done so. We are sure that you will find the information interesting.
After you sign in you can click on the icon titled "New Bill" on the left side of the page and you will see your information just like mine above. At my house, the bill under the new rate would have been a little higher for one reason -- on August 4 at 3:00 pm my home was pulling 2.61 kW, and if I had gotten it down to 1.5 kW, I would have actually saved money under the new rate.
I was trying to keep my home's load down that afternoon as the weather was quite hot and EPB was using several methods to advise the community of a possible peak demand for the afternoon of the 4th. I made sure no one was running major appliances during the afternoon. I also set my thermostats to pre-cool my home in the morning so that I could comfortably raise the temperature setting to 80 degrees in the afternoon, but I still wound up with a little more load on peak than I wanted. It got really hot that afternoon and, even with my thermostat set to 80 degrees, the air conditioning kicked on during the 3:00 peak hour and that set my demand at the 2.61 kW shown above. When you check your bill comparison, you might find that you did better than me by keeping your load below 2.61 kW, or you might find that your home's air conditioning and other major appliances combined to give you an even higher Coincident Demand Charge. If you were higher, then that is why we are talking about this months before the new rate goes into effect -- so you can be making plans to have a low kW demand during Glasgow's peaks. You still have several months to practice.
We know that over 2/3 of our electric customers also have internet service. If you have access to the internet, we cannot give you better advice than to sign up for your personal EPB meter portal and login often to monitor your energy usage, as well as look at the old vs. new bill comparisons to help you understand how to change your energy usage in 2016 to minimize your energy costs.
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