Our Energy, Our Future, Our Indiana
We all have an opportunity right now to make a difference in the future of our communities and our youth by communicating with our representatives in Congress about the importance of keeping our energy costs affordable.
Our country is facing and unparalleled energy crisis and lacks a national policy to handle the problems of electricity capacity, reliability and rising prices. If we, as co-op members, do not communicate with our lawmakers now about the importance of keeping electric rates affordable, some forecasts predict that we could see energy costs double in our lifetimes.
Lawmakers are placing a great deal of emphasis on finding solutions to global climate change. While it is very important to seeks these solutions, it is equally critical to establish policies that will ensure there is enough electricity for a secure and affordable energy future.
The smallest segment of the electric utility industry, electric cooperatives, are experiencing the highest growth percentages. However, because of our historic service footprint, cooperatives also serve some of the nation’s poorest consumers. We are deeply concerned about the impact of rising electricity prices and additional charges for new environmental programs on these consumers.
As electric cooperatives, we are always looking out for our members, a commitment that drives us to tackle these problems head on. Across the nation, cooperatives are actively engaged in discussions with consumers and elected officials, seeking balanced solutions that will protect the environment and assure consumers have a basic human right – affordable electric power.
It is projected, taking reasonably expected efficiency improvements into account, that electricity demand will grow 30 percent by 2030, requiring 264 new gigawatts of electric generating capacity. To better understand the magnitude of this need, consider that 264 gigawatts is 2.5 times the capacity now in the state of Texas.
Without significant changes in our national energy policy to meet capacity demands, in the next decade, U.S. consumers will be significantly exposed to rising and volatile electricity prices beyond anything experienced to date.
The reliability problems posed by a lack of adequate capacity will begin to manifest as early as 2009 according to the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC). In some regions, demand will soon outstrip capacity unless generation and transmission are added. Rapidly thinning capacity means that technicians and operation personnel, whose daily behind-the-scenes efforts keep the electric grid intact, are already seeing reliability “near-misses” when key lines or power plants go down. These events haven’t resulted in widespread blackouts and, so far, haven’t received attention in the press or from policy makers. However, if we fail to address our growing energy infrastructure and technology development needs, some regions face increasing probabilities of brownouts and blackouts in the near future.
Seventy-five years ago, the federal government created the Rural Electrification Administration so that all Americans could one day have safe, reliable and affordable electric power. Today, virtually all U.S. citizens enjoy this basic right, but it may slip away from future generations – unless we all act now to reconcile energy needs and climate goal. Electric cooperatives are committed to developing wise and balanced energy and climate plans now and in the future.
Join in the conversation with your elected officials by visiting www.ourenergy.coop. Taking action only requires about two minutes of your time. Together, we can make a difference for ourselves and for the generations to come.
Brian Sparks
CEO