You will have a pretty tough assignment if you go looking for an example of electric cooperatives facing a challenge without Herb Kohl there to help.
The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) acknowledged that fact about Wisconsin’s senior U.S. senator at its annual meeting in New Orleans last month, by honoring Kohl with its Distinguished Service Award.
It wasn’t the first time Kohl’s service to electric cooperatives had been recognized. In 2006, the Wisconsin Electric Cooperative Association presented him with a special ACE (Ally of Cooperative Electrification) Award. The ACE Award is the highest tribute conferred by the statewide association, and it’s meant to honor those who, according to the award criteria, have gone “above and beyond the normal, routine call of duty” in helping secure the benefits of cooperative electrification for rural residents.
Customarily given once a year to a person with a long and distinguished career in co-op management or governance, the ACE has been presented on a special basis only to Kohl and one other individual: former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson.
Outstanding Leadership
In a letter notifying Kohl of his selection for the 2009 Distinguished Service Award, Glenn English, chief executive officer of the NRECA, cited the Senator’s “outstanding leadership on behalf of the electric cooperative community.”
Examples are abundant in letters submitted to the NRECA board of directors by Wisconsin cooperatives supporting Kohl’s nomination, launched with a resolution adopted unanimously in May 2008 by the Wisconsin Electric Cooperative Association (WECA) board.
That resolution called the veteran senator “a champion of rural electrification, not just in Wisconsin, but in the nation as a whole” since he was first elected in 1988.
Listed in the resolution are numerous actions by Kohl to advance or defend electric cooperative interests. The most recent of those is his ongoing advocacy of fair treatment for businesses—electric co-ops featuring prominently among them—that must rely on railroads for shipping and delivery of bulk materials and have no competitive alternatives from which to choose.
Rail carriers enjoying monopoly status in most areas of the country have imposed huge rate increases during recent years. In more than one instance, the cost of shipping power-plant fuel has doubled virtually overnight. It shows up soon afterward as a bottom-line increase on the monthly electric bills of individual consumers.
Kohl has sponsored legislation in the previous Congress and the current one, to treat now-exempt railroads the same as other U.S. businesses under federal antitrust law. The legislation startled the powerful railroad lobby by making notable progress during the 110th Congress and it was reintroduced the day after the 111th was seated in January.
Good Loans
At a time when mere mention of federal loan programs can put taxpayers on high alert, at least one such program can point to a rock-solid record of success. The Rural Economic Development Loan and Grant (REDLG) program does what it was set up to do; its loans get paid back; and according to the WECA and NRECA, a share of the credit goes to Herb Kohl.
Operated through the U.S. Department of Agriculture, REDLG provides interest-free loans to rural electric cooperatives and related entities, who in turn re-lend the money locally for economic development initiatives. The funds are intended to help grow the rural economy by giving businesses access to capital, technical assistance, and new markets.
Five years ago, the Office of Management and Budget issued rules making it impossible for the National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation (CFC) to participate in the program, and the WECA nominating resolution hails Kohl for leading a successful effort to change those rules. Where the REDLG and rural utilities programs are concerned, the resolution said, Kohl “has responded to every request for help from WECA, NRECA, and CFC during his years of service.”
The Agriculture Department recently credited investments resulting from the REDLG program with saving or creating more than two million jobs over the past eight years.
More Work to Do
Now one-third of the way through his fourth six-year term, Senator Kohl expressed thanks for the award by saying, “It’s an honor to be recognized for the work I enjoy doing for rural communities in Wisconsin and across the country. We know that rural cooperatives look out for the unique needs of their members and have an important role in keeping rural communities thriving and strong.”
In addition to his economic development and antitrust efforts, the WECA nominating resolution noted Kohl’s continuing advocacy for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance (LIHEAP) program and his support for making the federal government live up to its legal obligations by completing the long-delayed Yucca Mountain repository for spent nuclear power-plant fuel, bucking opposition within his own party.
Success in the latter undertaking would save millions of dollars annually for Wisconsin cooperative members, by eliminating the need to continue storing spent fuel that was supposed to be taken under federal custody in 1998.
For his part, the senator noted, “There is much work to be done to keep rural life sustainable, including reining in the costs to transport energy and investing in local economic development.” He said he looked forward to the tasks.
Kohl’s Distinguished Service Award was formally announced February 16 at the New Orleans annual meeting, but actual presentation will take place in May, during NRECA’s annual legislative conference in Washington, D.C.—Dave Hoopman
Editor’s note: Hard economic times bring out the proverbial “snake oil” salesmen, preying upon consumers’ desire for relief. Unfortunately, the energy industry isn’t exempt from these opportunists, and in recent months we’ve witnessed increasing solicitations for products claiming to be able to save consumers miraculous amounts of electricity—and dollars. Steve Oden, communications director for the Ohio statewide electric co-op association, wrote the following article concerning one such category of products: those claiming to save energy through “power conditioning.”
Today, energy efficiency is on the minds of millions of Americans. Electric bills are rising due to pressure on wholesale rates from environmental regulations, the need for additional base load generation capacity, and the rising cost of fuel. It’s easy to see why marketers have targeted consumers who are searching for the proverbial silver bullet of energy savings.
This is why Wisconsin’s electric cooperative members are cautioned to look before they leap when responding to print, broadcast, or Internet ads promising electric bill savings from plug-in or wire-in power-conditioning devices. When the ads also promote do-it-yourself installation involving exposure to dangerous high voltage and possible electric meter tampering, it’s time to use common sense and seek advice.
Alluring Sales Pitch
Clever ad campaigns play on consumer misunderstanding of electricity and electrical devices. Sales pitches full of technical-sounding explanations and rosy testimonials overwhelm skepticism and convince buyers to sign on the bottom line. They forget to ask important questions: Have reputable, independent test labs certified the products? Why hasn’t the utility industry endorsed these amazing gadgets? How can guarantees of 20- to 50-percent savings be true?
An example is the often-quoted ad claim: “Surge suppressors save electricity.” Surge suppressors are protective devices only. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and consumer agencies have issued warnings about transient voltage surge suppressors (TVSS) hawked as energy-saving tools.
In 1993, the FTC charged a Florida company with false representation over TVSS ads claiming electric bill reductions of 20 percent and extended life for fluorescent lights. The seller agreed to settle the charges. In the consent decree, the defendants were required to possess “competent and reliable evidence to substantiate any representations” made in selling or advertising such products in the future.
This was a shot across the bow for such marketers, but it also forced creative adaptation. Today, we see a proliferation of advertising for residential power-conditioning equipment based on the claim that metered electricity from a utility can be improved to help home appliances and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems operate more efficiently and cheaper.
Technically Speaking…
Alternating current (AC) has three components: real power, apparent power, and reactive power. “Power factor” is the ratio of real power, measured in kilowatts (kW), over apparent power, measured in kilovolt amps (kVA). Reactive power, or kilovolt amps reactive (kVAR), is part of total current, but it does no useful work like the kW and kVA components.
Commercial and industrial loads receiving service at higher voltages are customarily charged for reactive power. These larger loads can become more efficient in the use of electricity by installing devices called “capacitors” that remove reactive power. Whether or not capacitors are needed depends on the manufacturing process or the type, size, and number of electric motors being operated. An electrical engineer makes this determination, often after consulting with the utility from which service is received.
At the household level, power factor becomes more dubious as a means of saving energy. First, utilities already use capacitors to correct power factor on their lines. The ability to measure and control kVAR provides the host utility with a valuable management tool for improving overall system operation while reducing wholesale costs.
Second, residential consumers are not charged for reactive power, and conventional mechanical electric meters don’t register kVAR. Advanced automated meters that report readings via power-line carrier or radio signal can include power-quality monitoring features and software, but the collected data is used for system operation and troubleshooting, not the billing of residential accounts.
Power-conditioning products located on the customer’s side of the meter might indeed include capacitors, but the residential consumer is not being charged for reactive power so how does savings occur? In addition, many electrical engineers and utilities are puzzled about the technologies used by device manufacturers and whether any power-factor benefit can be achieved.
Research Still Catching Up
Impartial third-party testing results from reputable industry or academic sources are not widely available. The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) has launched a project to test the energy-saving claims of about 20 products, but results won’t be available until 2010. There are cases where individual states have taken on some of the products, based on local examinations. For instance, testing by a lab at the University of Texas–Austin is backing up an action by the Texas attorney general against the firm that markets Xpower Energy Saver/Mega Power Saver.
The products vary widely. Some even claim to use electromagnetic fields to reduce energy use, and others promise double-digit savings from special wrapping tape for wires and conduits in the meter box.
Many of these devices must be wired into the home’s electrical system. Unfortunately, several companies are marketing their products with unsafe and potentially illegal installation advice. Do-it-yourself installers are instructed to open their meter bases and pull their own electric meters. Across the nation, electric cooperative managers and safety supervisors are aghast that consumers would be encouraged to risk electrocution.
Risky, Illegal
Meters are sealed for safety and to prevent tampering. Removing a meter seal without notifying your co-op and being granted permission (usually only allowed when certified electricians will do the work) is contrary to policy, operating procedures, and safety regulations. Such action could put the account holder at risk of charges for meter tampering and attempt to steal service. Electric cooperatives routinely prosecute for power theft.
One product’s Web site features FAQs that include this gem:
“Will the electric company fine me for use of this product?”
Answer: “No, the only way the electric company can determine the use of this product is if you stop paying your electric bills or install it improperly damaging their equipment.”
If the meter seal is broken, your electric cooperative will discover it sooner or later. Many Wisconsin co-ops have adopted AMR (automated meter reading) systems. Several co-ops are deploying the second generation of these “intelligent” electric meters, which include tamper alarms that can send a signal back to co-op headquarters.
So, don’t fall victim to claims of electric bill savings that seem too good to be true.
Contact your electric cooperative for information and advice before investing in residential power quality equipment or installing such devices.—Steve Oden and WEC News staff
May 11, 1973—President Nixon signs the bill authorizing the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) to guarantee loans. Flanking the president are (from left) William Erwin, assistant secretary of agriculture; REA Administrator David Hamil; and Agriculture Secretary Earl Butz.
A Public Good
This past month as federal lawmakers sparred over amounts and types of spending in the economic stimulus bill, interest groups freely tossed in their two cents’ worth of opinion. No one, it seemed, was neutral. If the proposal contained goodies for them, the groups praised the legislation as visionary and invaluable; if it involved funding directed at something they despised, condemnations spewed.
In an e-mail message I received, one discontented outfit railed against a provision to increase by $50 billion a federal loan-guarantee program for “innovative” energy technologies, which included the possibility of funds to help build “clean-coal” and nuclear power plants. A spokesman decried the “very significant” credit risk to the taxpayer if the plan won approval.
Knowing the agenda of this particular organization, it was clear none of this rhetoric had a thing to do with preserving the financial well-being of the downtrodden taxpayer or the economy; it was all about opposing anything that remotely aided energy from nuclear or coal.
Nothing New
What amused me was the group’s characterization of the loan program—as if it were cooked up as some kind of stealthy and conniving way of bilking the public. “It’s a little-known fact that the loans would not come from the private sector but from the U.S. Treasury itself,” the organization’s e-mailed press statement exclaimed, implying the government had no right whatsoever to be in the lending business.
Well, yes, financing for those proposed loan guarantees was indeed to be provided by the Federal Financing Bank (FFB), but despite the press release’s dire slant, there’s nothing uncommon about lending programs from that government source. In fact, the alarmists would likely be shocked, shocked to learn that much of today’s generating facilities owned by electric co-ops was financed in similar fashion through the FFB. This goes back decades, and it’s been an exemplary success story of a federal-private partnership.
Partnering
Recognizing the public good that could come from federal loan guarantees, Congress passed a law in 1973 authorizing them for projects approved by the Rural Electrification Administration (REA). The action followed months of negotiation between the Nixon administration, members of Congress, and electric co-op leaders who were concerned about meeting the energy needs of rural Americans.
REA signed its first FFB loan-guarantee agreement 35 years ago this summer shortly after the FFB’s creation. By the end of that first year, almost $1 billion in loans were made to electric cooperatives that were constructing new power-generation facilities. In the years since, more than $50 billion in FFB loan guarantees have gone to generation and transmission co-ops for rural power production.
One point that needs emphasis: These were loans, repaid to the Treasury at the government’s cost of money plus an eighth of 1 percent interest. It wasn’t some sort of no-strings-attached entitlement.
Electric co-ops have long understood and appreciated that when beneficial energy projects in rural areas run up against financial roadblocks, the government can be an indispensable partner.
Wisconsin Dells has long been known for summer fun at the area’s many outdoor waterparks. However, the locale is probably less well known (so far) for its indoor waterparks, open all winter. There are several from which to choose for a day or an entire weekend of fun. All offer ideal family outings, and though the majority are contained in large Dells resorts, most will be glad to sell you a day pass to their waterparks even if you’re not an overnight guest.The typical indoor waterpark offers waterslides (with tubes or mats), whirlpools, water walks, towers, and interactive play. Activities are geared to all ages, ensuring that those from toddlers to their grandparents will have ample opportunities to get thoroughly wet and to have fun in the process.
Medusa’s Indoor Waterpark, in the large Mount Olympus Water and Theme Park (608/254-2490 or www.mtolympuspark.com), is to our knowledge the only one in the Dells not contained within a resort. However, it does offer accommodations in the adjacent Hotel Rome. Medusa’s features a Mystical Tower Tube Slide, Banyon Tree House, the Warriors Water Walk, the Mayan Raging River, a hot tub, and a whirlpool. A day pass is $19.95, or $17.75 if the ticket is ordered online. An indoor theme park is also offered, and a combined ticket (theme park and waterpark) will cost you $27 on weekend days or $23 on weekdays.
Kalahari Resort (877/525-2427 or www.kalahariresorts.com) boasts Wisconsin’s largest indoor waterpark, along with a new indoor theme park. The waterpark has a surf and boogie board wave, a water rollercoaster, a family raft ride, a wave pool, and many other attractions. The all-day pass is $39; from 5 p.m. until closing time, you can play for $25.
The Wilderness Resort (608/253-9729 or www.wildernessresort.com) has not one, but three, indoor waterparks. Together, they offer a roof that allows guests to sun-tan year around, wave pools, a family raft racing ride, a family ride that plummets into a dark tunnel before dropping into a funnel, indoor/outdoor hot tubs, plus many other delights. Day passes are limited and are $25 each.
At Chula Vista Resort (800/388-4782 or www.chulavistaresort.com), Lost Rios Waterpark features the world’s longest and fastest indoor water coaster. Other attractions include the Rio Rapids Action River, Mayan Temple, the Crock Walk Water Crossing, and three Jungle Adventure light and music shows you can enjoy while swirling around the giant bowl ride. If you’re not staying at the resort, you can buy a day pass for $29.95.
The Great Wolf Lodge (800/559-9653 or www.greatwolf.com) offers its indoor waterpark for lodge guests only, but if you are staying there, you’re in for a treat. The waterpark has 300,000 gallons of water, all heated to 84 degrees for year-round fun. Within a nine-story building, the park offers guests 19 water slides, a wave pool, activity pool, and kiddie pool. Other popular features include a four-story treehouse water fort and the nation’s first indoor mat racer water slides.
Whichever indoor waterpark you choose, you’ll be agreeing with us that in Wisconsin Dells, the water’s fine despite the March outdoor temperatures.—Linda Hilton
