5, 1933, then President Herbert Hoover announced the death of his predecessor Calvin Coolidge.ДЄmong several things concerning the deceased, he mentioned that вЂњHis nature has become his own lifetime a synonym for sagacity and wisdom and his temperateness in speech and his orderly deliberation in action bespoke a profound sense of responsibility which guided his conduct of public businessвЂќ. While the вЂњCadillacвЂќ is purring along, it appears the вЂњChevyвЂќ is down for a costly overhaul and the members are paying for it. Seven years ago, a proponent of Carroll Electric stated that he was not willing to вЂњpay for Cadillac service on a Chevy budgetвЂќ. Meanwhile, CE purchases new equipment that is saddled with Federal Excise Tax, complains about lost revenue, and passes rate increases onto its memberвЂ“owners. AEP seems willing to adapt to new energy demands, while Carroll Electric mourns the decline in another.ДЄEPвЂ™s investors have got to be smiling over this new increased revenue. Though it was a substantial initial investment, AEP now receives 7-figure revenue for these facilities on a monthly basis. The Co-Op decided to turn these areas over to the American Electric Power. In particular, there are 7 of these facilities in present production that fell within Carroll ElectricвЂ™s service region. Infrastructure of this shale play has continued to grow with pipelines, compressor stations, and processing plants. While coal production has declined, the one natural resource area that continues to grow and expand is shale oil and gas. The final factor noted for the necessity of the rate increase was the loss of commercial accounts, specifically because of the decline in coal production. It seems this company is searching for the perfect вЂњGoldilocksвЂќ weather zone that just doesnвЂ™t exist.

Several years ago, Carroll Electric also pointed to the weather as the fault of rate increases, mainly because of storm damage and heavy winter snow load. It is claimed that the recent mild winters and cool summers have caused a decline in power usage, thereby reducing revenue. Management also points out the weather as a factor in the necessity to raise rates. So now, revenue is being spent to control threats that should have been managed years ago. So, then there are threat trees not only beyond the conductor corridor, but alongside, as well. The problem with this procedure is that the вЂњtrimmingвЂќ conducted is not arbor culturally sound and many tree species will decline in health and die after this practice.

In addition, these companies employ the use of mechanical tree trimmers that are able to trim vegetation rapidly along the sides of a right of way. At that time, local contractors were being paid on a time and material rate, and would frequently perform work outside the normal corridor to remove threat vegetation and travel around to вЂњhot spotвЂќ areas to help to control electric outages.Д¬arroll Electric could have opted to continue with at least a portion of this service to control future threats, but instead chose to go all-in and relied on the large ROW companies to perform rapid вЂњmileage clearingвЂќ, all the while ignoring threat vegetation that was outside the prescribed corridor. The decline of the ash trees is slow, basically taking several years for trees to essentially starve to death.ДЄbout that time, Carroll Electric opted to proceed with an вЂњaggressive ROW programвЂќ, and started seeking mileage bidding by large ROW companies to save ROW costs and clear more вЂњmiles of lineвЂќ. The EAB infestation in this area started in 2009. Management has pointed out several factors that have caused this action that members need to examine.ДЇirst of all, Carroll Electric points to increase right-of-way maintenance expenses, brought on by the additional cost of dead tree removal, off вЂњcorridorвЂќ, brought on by the emerald ash borer. In the November issue of вЂњOhio Cooperative LivingвЂќ, Carroll Electric Cooperative has warned its member-owners that they can expect to see an increase in their electric bill beginning in January of 2018, specifically, in their service availability charge.

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