HomeWorks Members Vote to Eliminate Outage Credit
A record crowd of 178 delegates at HomeWorks Tri-County Electric Cooperative’s 77th annual meeting has voted unanimously to eliminate a customer outage service credit. The credit was established by the Michigan Public Service Commission in 2004 as part of an electric service reliability program aimed at the state’s two large investor-owned utilities. Through Public Act [...]
Ontonagon Co-op Now Offers SmartHub Online Service
Ontonagon County REA has just launched Smarthub® - an online service that offers electric co-op members a faster, more efficient way to pay their bills and manage account information from either a computer or mobile device, including smartphones and tablets. With SmartHub, co-op members can also report an outage or service related matter, set recurring [...]
Co-ops Welcome EPA’s Extension of Climate Comment Period
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced Sept. 16 that it will extend the public comment period for its proposed Clean Power Plan by 45 days (from Oct. 16 to Dec. 1). Released in June, the Plan aims to cut carbon pollution from existing power plants. “These proposed regulations are some of the most complex and [...]
Statewide Storms Strike Eight Co-op Service Areas
Nearly 500,000 Michigan homes and businesses were without power over Labor Day weekend as severe storms swept through mostly the Lower Peninsula, bringing heavy rain and damaging winds up to 70 mph. Electric co-op members were affected largely in the service areas of Presque Isle Electric & Gas Co-op (PIE&G), Great Lakes Energy, HomeWorks Tri-County, [...]
MECA Safety Team Holds Chainsaw Workshop
Over 35 participants in the Michigan Electric Cooperative Association (MECA) Safety partnership, including municipal utilities, attended a Chainsaw Safety Workshop on Sept. 3-4. Besides the hands-on cutting and felling of trees, participants learned chainsaw safety and maintenance, emergency first aid, and proper field dressings for injuries. The equipment workshop participants are required to wear is [...]
Regional Meetings: Co-ops Need Unity To Meet Challenges
Jo Ann Emmerson, CEO NRECA “Electric cooperatives should stand shoulder to shoulder to meet the challenge of government policies and technologies that threaten to disrupt their historic solidarity,” said CEO Jo Ann Emerson at the Regions 1 & 4 meeting of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), Sept. 3-5. Speaking to the [...]