Blue Ridge Doesn't Expect Rate Increase

Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative continues to weather the economic storm, but cooperative officials fear revenues may not return to pre-2007 levels.

“The economy's still not great,” Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative CEO Charles Dalton said. “Growth is not overwhelming for any of us. We're adding members here and there but at the rate we were prior to '07 or '08. Sales were just unbelievably down.”

He said cooperative officials are not sure that sales will ever recover proportionally to the level they were prior to 2007 and 2008.

“We're preparing, going forward, to not see that kind of revenue going forward,” Dalton said.

But Dalton emphasized that the cooperative plans to finish 2013 without a rate increase. The last time the cooperative adjusted the energy component of its rate was November 2008.

“We don't forsee a rate increase the rest of this year, and if there is one at all in 2014, we think it will be small, 3 or 4 percent,” Dalton said.

Blue Ridge Electric is “very strong, very solid,” he said.

Government regulation and legislation in both Columbia and Washington is “the biggest threat we see in terms of what goes on in the price of power,” Dalton said.

There is an effort in all three branches of government who are intent on shutting down all coal-fired power plants in America, he said.

“We get that – we understand,” Dalton said. “We're just not sure how you shut down all the coal-fired plants without effecting people who are really going to be struggling to pay those costs,” Dalton said. “Coal-fired generation is a pretty big thing in South Carolina.”

Blue Ridge Electric and other cooperatives are fighting any legislation that would put upward pressure on the price of electricity, he said.

While revenues have not returned to pre-recession levels on the power side of the business, the cooperative's subsidiary, Blue Ridge Securities, has continued to grow.

“There's almost a correlation between the bad economy and the need for security services,” Dalton said. “We've seen a lot of growth in our security company and we're proud of that performance.

Cooperative construction crews are nearly done with the latest engineering work plan, and work begins this spring on outlining the next four-year engineering work plan, 2013-2017.

“Because of the economy and the lack of growth, we will be spending about 20 percent less on that work plan than we have the previous four years,” Dalton said.

The cooperative cannot delay improvements just because of slow revenue growth, he said.

“We have to make significant improvements,” Dalton said. “Electric systems, like everything else, will deteriorate without good maintenance. We're never going to take our eye off of maintenance.”

In addition to new power-line extensions, line conversions and relocations, Dalton said 2012 saw the completion of several “big-league” projects, including a brand-new substation in Central.

“Members in southern Pickens County and northern Anderson County are receiving better reliability now from that substation,” Dalton said.

Last year, the cooperative energized its new Echo Hill substation in Oconee County, which will serve new industry in that area as well as serving members in that area.

The new engineering work plan will include three new substations and two rebuilt facilities, Dalton said.

“For a big portion of our members, these planned facilities should result in an even better level of service,” Dalton said.

The average per-member outage time in 2012 was fewer than three hours for the entire year, Dalton said.

“That means the typical member had service better than 99.7 percent of the time,” he said.

The cooperative enjoyed another year without a lost-time accident, Dalton said. “In more than 49 months – that's better than four years – our workforce has recorded just one on-the-job accident. You might ask me, what keeps me awake at night? Not much, but that does. Injuries and accidents on our electrical system are really the one thing that weighs heaviest on me. We really credit our employees and the leadership of our operations folks, our crew leaders, for the unbelievable dedication they have to working safe.”