Sussex REC's Currents September 2005

September's 2005 Articles

CEO: We are all going back to school	Did you turn OFF the computer?
Meet Your Employees	A new option in air conditioning
News & Events	Cooperative Principle #5
School Bus Safety Rules

Commentary By the CEO: We are all going back to school

By Robert Kolling
President & CEO

I've noticed a snap in some of our members step lately. Could it be that their children have gone back to school after a long hot summer? The heat undoubtly made it difficult to get the kids off the couch and outside to play. Now that they're back at school getting their education, I'd like to tell you what learning processes we're going through at the co-op.

We have a continuing education program for our lineman. This month some of our line personnel will attend the Pennsylvania Rural Electric Association's (PREA) Risk Management Underground Residential Distribution Line School. Linemen from co-ops in Pennsylvania will converge on Adams Electric Co-op in Gettysburg, PA to learn new techniques and equipment used for underground electric utilities. These "hands-on" classes are invaluable tools for teaching not only the process but also improving safety.

September also brings the NRECA Regional Meetings. These meetings get co-op directors together in order to exchange ideas and learn about the electric cooperative network. These experiences educate directors in regards to the challenges of power supply, price, transmission and transportation. It helps them to understand the new reality for renewable energy, explore strategies for resolving conflict to sustain cooperative strength and many other important topics.

Our billing and accounting departments will be getting updates this month from our software provider, Daffron & Associates. New enhancements to our current software will be discussed and a variety of courses - including credit card processing, member self-service via the Internet - will be taken. We are learning all this in order to provide better service to you, our members.

Every 4 or 5 years we conduct a Member Satisfaction Survey. This survey is used to gauge our membership's perception of the job that we're doing and to look at demographic trends in membership. Additionally, we look at new products and services that you, our owners, would like to see us investigate. It's an education of member's needs that gives us focus for the upcoming year.

We've received the results of our Member Satisfaction Survey and they were very favorable. I was glad to see that a majority (68% gave us a 9 or 10 in satisfaction) think that we're providing the kind of service you would expect from your co-op. Concerns focused around rates and outages/blinks.

We'd like to share the results of the survey with you and address any additional concerns that you might have in 3 separate meetings. The first meeting will be held at the Lafayette Elementary School on October 4 @ 7 PM. The next meeting is scheduled for October 5 at the Highland Lakes Country Club @ 7 PM and the following meeting is to be held at our main office on Route 639 across from the Sussex Airport at 7 PM on October 11. We hope you are able to attend one of these locations.

Please remember that as school begins, to watch out for children crossing the street and stopped buses. Let's have a safe start to the new school year.

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Did you turn OFF the computer?

PC’s are becoming standard equipment in most homes, and used by nearly every business, school, organization, and governmental agency. Turning PCs off when they are not needed is a low-cost technique that reduces energy consumption and saves money, and avoids the environmental impacts of producing the electricity that would otherwise be consumed.

Today’s PCs that have an ENERGY STAR® label come with a power down feature for the CPU and monitor. ENERGY STAR®-labeled computers have the capability to power down to a “sleep” mode, in which they consume 15 Watts or less power, which is around 70% less electricity than a computer without power management features. ENERGY STAR®-labeled monitors have the capability to power down into two successive “sleep” modes. In the first, the monitor energy consumption is less than or equal to 15 watts, and in the second power consumption reduces to eight watts, which is less than 10% of its operating power consumption. These features allow you to set a time of inactivity at which the PC and monitor will power down into the “sleep” mode. Make sure you have the power down feature set up on your PC through your operating system software. This has to be done by you, otherwise the PC will not power down. If your PC and monitor do not have a power down feature, and even if they do, follow the guidelines below about when to turn the CPU and monitor off.

Note that screen savers are not energy savers. They may in fact use more energy than not using one, and the power down feature may not work if you have a screen saver activated. In fact, modern color monitors do not need screen savers at all.

A common theory was that turning a PC on and off wasn’t good for the machine. Most PCs reach the end of their “useful” life due to advances in technology long before the affects of being switched on and off ten or more times a day are likely to have a negative impact on their service life. They use about the same amount of energy to startup as they use when they are on for about two seconds. The less time a PC is on, the longer it will “last.” PCs also produce heat, so turning them off reduces building cooling loads. Also, there is no more effective security firewall than not having the PC on.

A rule of thumb for energy saving is that if you are not going to be using your PC for more than about 20 minutes, turn the monitor off. If you are not going to be using your PC for more than around two hours, turn the CPU and monitor off. If you use your computer most of the time over say an eight-hour period, but have breaks for longer than 20 minutes up to an hour, just turn the monitor off when the PC is not in use, and be sure to use the power down feature! You should definitely turn everything off if you won’t be using the PC for more than four hours.

The exceptions are if the PC has a very old hard drive, if the PC operates or monitors some other device such as phone/fax, printer, or home security system, and/or if the PC is part of network file sharing operation.

Make sure your computer is on a surge protector. When the PC is not in use for extended periods, turn off the PC with the switch on the surge protector. Even when you turn some PCs off with the switch on the PC itself, it may consume a small amount of power. If you don’t use a power strip, unplug the CPU and monitor.

The environmental benefits of turning computers off are dependent on the source of the electricity you consume. Coal fired power plants produce about 50 percent of the electricity in the United States. Natural gas fired power plants provide about 15 percent, nuclear plants about 18 percent, hydro dams about 10 percent, and the rest is from oil (about 3 percent) and “renewable” sources such as biomass, geothermal, wind, and solar power plants. Fossil fuel combustion power plants (coal, gas, and oil) emit carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide (mainly from coal and oil fired power plants), nitrous oxides, and particulates and heavy metals such as mercury (coal fired power plants). Regardless of the source of electricity, if you consume less, you are reducing the impact you have on the environment.

For more information on energy-saving, visit the DOE’s Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy Web site at www.eere.energy.gov

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Meet Your Employees...Laurie Andersen, Customer Service Representative

This month’s featured employee is Laurie Andersen. Laurie is going on her 3rd year as a Customer Service Representative at Sussex Rural Electric Cooperative. She came to us from her previous Teller position at Lakeland Bank.

Laurie is one of the first people you see when you come into our office. Some of her duties include cashier, payment processing, handling new member applications and answering member’s questions.

“Member satisfaction is really important to me,” commented Laurie. “When a member calls with a question about their bill or service, all of us in Customer Service try our best to make sure that they get the help they need.” Asked what’s her least favorite part of the job, Laurie emphatically answers, “Outages!” She continues, “During an outage, we don’t have any control over the situation. It’s very difficult.”

A member of the Lafayette Federated Church, Laurie helps out Wednesday nights with the “Kids Club.” This program runs fall through spring and is held in conjunction with the church’s Bible study and family dinner night. She and her husband, Leif, have just moved into their new home in Wantage Township.

Laurie is one of the people you can count on at Sussex Rural Electric Cooperative!

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A new option in Air Conditioning

By Carol Speck
Member Services Manager

How many ways are there to cool your home’s interior? I’ll wager that all of us have tried many options this summer. Welcome to New Jersey, land of cold snowy winters, and HAZY, HOT & HUMID summers; and yet, I love the diversity of our state - mountains, lakes, beaches, estuary, farms, metropolitan life -it’s got it all!!

At my house, we usually begin the spring and summer season by opening the windows. Once the summer is actually upon us, we move into mechanical means - we use a fan. When the humidity strikes, we swim more, close the windows a bit, open the door to the basement and let the cooler air rise - thanks to the whole house fan. That’s great until the humidity stays and the summer is in full swing 90 degrees and better... Then it’s nothing but artificial means that make the summer tolerable. Go Air Conditioner!

Window air conditioners are great. They can give you the luxury of lower humidity and cooler air temperatures, but only in a few rooms. If you can work through it, it may be the most inexpensive answer. But, if you want to roam around the house during the dog days of summer, you’ll need another answer - central air. Ahh...We added central air to the house this spring and it is wonderful! My electric bills rose by about $120.00 a month and that’s about what I expected, but, what a luxury! A cool, dehumidified home is a pleasure. There was one drawback; we lost almost ALL of our attic storage space. I’m not complaining, I wouldn’t go back but well, I do miss the storage.

A year ago, one of our members investigated a central air unit that was just right for their home. The house is post and beam construction and very open with high ceilings and lots of windows. Concealing ductwork was not going to be possible. There was no attic in which to place the condenser. Options? How about a ductless split system?

Never heard of a ductless split system? According to Pete McGrath of Quantum Heating and Air Conditioning, here in the US we put in 90% central air systems and 10% ductless splits - it is just the opposite in the rest of the world. Quantum puts in 20 or more of these systems a year. Advantages to a split ductless system? They are QUIET. They have no duct in or on the wall. They are easy to place - an apparatus that looks like an air cleaner about 30 to 60 inches wide, by 13 inches high, by 9 inches deep, is placed high on the wall. Depending upon the system you choose, you could have more than 6 of these wall units on one condenser/compressor.The thermostat is remote - one handheld operates all the wall mounted units. The outside unit - in this case - is very slim about 36 inches high and wide by about 10 or 12 inches deep. It looks like a big window fan! And, it can produce heat in the winter! It’s a heat pump!! Now there’s a versatile system!

How is the cost-to-run? Our members are so kind. They have allowed us to track the extra usage from the air conditioner. Here’s a comparison of what they were up from their base bill:

• July 2004: Up about $30.00-using fans
• June 2005: Up about $36.00-using the AC split system
• July 2005: Up about $70.00-using the AC split system

I’d say they’re doing pretty well! Especially considering the heat and humidity we’ve had this summer. I can’t wait to see what the winter brings!

With no ductwork, no mess, quick installation and a lower operating cost, this ductless split system is hard to beat. The filters on the wall units are removable. Once a month, you just rinse them out, dry them off and reposition - nothing else to buy or store!

I want to give a balanced report on this system but really cannot think of anything I’d improve upon. Well, maybe it would be lowering the initial purchase price. But since this is a heating system too, I’m not sure that can even be viewed as a disadvantage! And, as these systems become more popular, maybe the price will drop a bit.

I’ve been calling our Split-Ductless members quite a bit over the past few weeks.According to the homeowners, Mike and Maureen, “It’s not just a home improvement, it’s a life improvement. We don’t know how we ever lived without it!” Their home is cool and comfortable, the cost to run has not been extreme, the system is quiet and they are obviously very happy with the results. Sounds like a winner!

The Value of AC

Let’s look at the cost of running an air conditioner this summer. Are you getting the value you expect or are you paying grudgingly? More than half of the days of this summer saw temperatures above 89 degrees. According to Channel 4 weather, while this summer was A LOT warmer than the past two, it really was more “average” than above average. We just have short memories!

How much should it cost you every month to live comfortably - without the heat and humidity that plague the world outside our home? And, when do you feel the cost is too great?

Here are a few statistics:
The 1993 SREC Member Survey asked - How many of you have AC? Of what type?
And the answer is... 47 % have AC in their homes; 23% central units, 77% window units.

The 2005 SREC Member Survey asked the same question but received a much different answer... 85% have AC in their homes; 32% central units, 49% window units.

We’ve increased the number of households using air conditioners but have added quite a few central systems as we removed our window units. It looks like we are headed toward... the comfort zone.

Is there a typical cost? Yes and No. It’s “typical” to see a rise of $70 to $130 a month to keep a house cool. Actually, it does matter how low you set the thermostat, how involved you are in keeping the sunlight out and the size of the house (well, the amount of outside wall space and number of windows).

I stepped outside one night and the air was so thick it was oppressive. I can still remember when that air was inside the house, how uncomfortable it was, how we were sitting in front of fans, how the tile and linoleum were actually wet when we walked on it. Now, it is wonderful - like a different world inside the house. No humidity. Is it a lot of money? Yeah, but at $4.00 a day (less than the cost of an “extra value” meal), it’s of great value to me. I’ll pay it gladly and escape the heat.

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News & Events

SUSSEX / WANTAGE:

Sussex Kiwanis

VERNON:

http://www.bloodnj.org/

COUNTY WIDE:

Veterans’ Transportation

POSTING OF ANNOUNCEMENTS:
If you would like to list your clubs and/or organization event you can call, stop by or even e-mail us with the information. Currents is published monthly, all submissions must be to SREC by the 10th of the prior month of the event.

E-mail to: info@sussexrec.com. We reserve the right to edit any requests.

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Cooperative Principle #5: Education, Training, and Information

Yes, we did skip #4 (Autonomy & Independence). We’ll get back to that one next month. In keeping with our going-back-to-school theme this month, I thought that principle #5 would be more appropriate.

Cooperatives provide education and training for their members, elected representatives, managers, and employees so they can contribute effectively to the development of their cooperatives. They inform the general public, particularly young people and opinion leaders, about the nature and benefits of cooperation.

Sussex Rural Electric Cooperative offers educational programs for all kinds of groups. We are regular visitors to area elementary schools and have a steady stream of scouts who come to our facilities.

This magazine serves to educate you regarding energy conservation, items of concern for your co-op, as well as when important meetings are to be held.

We visit our congressional representatives in Washington, DC each May to inform them of issues affecting our operations. These visits give us the opportunity to remind them of our presence and to put a face on our organization.

As you’ve seen from Mr. Kolling’s article, our employees also continually keep updated on job related courses. It is part of our core belief to keep everyone well informed and knowledgeable.

- Jaci Teune, Marketing Manager

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School Bus Safety Rules

For some 22 million students nationwide, the school day begins and ends with a trip on a school bus. Unfortunately, school bus related crashes killed 164 persons and injured an estimated 18,000 persons nationwide in 1999, according to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System.

Over the past six years, about 70 percent of the deaths in fatal school bus related crashes were occupants of vehicles other than the school bus, and 20 percent were pedestrians. About 4 percent were school bus passengers and 2 percent were school bus drivers. Although drivers of all vehicles are required to stop for a school bus when it is stopped to load or unload passengers, children should not rely on them to do so. The National Safety Council encourages parents to teach their children these rules for getting on and off the school bus.

Getting on the school bus
• Stay away from traffic and avoid roughhousing that can lead to carelessness.
• Line up away from the street or road as the school bus approaches.
• Wait until the bus has stopped and the door opens before stepping onto the roadway.

Behavior on the bus
• Find a seat and sit down. Loud talking or other noise can distract the bus driver.
• Never put head, arms or hands out of the window.
• Keep aisles clear — books or bags are tripping hazards.
• At your stop, wait for the bus to stop completely before getting up from your seat.

Getting off the school bus
• If you have to cross the street in front of the bus, walk at least ten feet ahead of the bus along the side of the road, until you can turn around and see the driver.
• Make sure that the driver can see you.
• Stay away from the bus’ rear wheels at all times.

Source: National Safety Council

SmallBizU is now available exclusively to Sussex REC Members. Click the link to the left to learn more.

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