News Releases

January 2008

The Energy Cooperative’s Operation Round Up Provides Funding For Electricity Lab.

Newark, January 12: The Works unveiled their newest display unit the Zap Lab. The unit will teach children about electricity, magnetism and safety. The lab unit was partially funded by The Energy Cooperative’s Operation Round Up program. The Zap Lab was designed with input from The Energy Cooperative’s Electrical Engineering Manager, Tom Wilks. Marcia Downes, Managing Director of The Works praised all who donated their time and effort towards making the educational unit a reality. Pictured are Marcia Downes and Tom Wilks at the opening ceremony.

December 2007

Operation Round Up Makes Community Awards

Newark, December 12, 2007: The Energy Cooperative Round Up Foundation, Inc. awarded $29,045 to the following community groups:

Salvation Army of Knox County for playground equipment
Muskingum Valley Red Cross for a mobile unit
Big Brother Big Sisters of Muskingum County for office equipment
Muskingum Valley Y for exercise equipment
Watkins Memorial Band Boosters for help with uniforms
National Trail Volunteer Fire Department for personal protective equipment
Simon Kenton Council of Boy Scouts of America for technological upgrades
Individual to help with funeral expenses

August 2007

Operation Round Up Makes Community Awards

Newark, December 12: The Energy Cooperative Round Up Foundation, Inc. awarded $22,958 to the following community groups in our service area:

Pathways of Licking County for technical equipment.
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Licking/Perry Counties for safety handbooks.
Licking County Coalition For Care for homelessness prevention.
East Knox High School for a student tour.
Christ's Table for an upgrade to their kitchen equipment.
Kokosing Valley Mounted Search And Rescue for a defibrillator.
Newark Ice Hockey for female hockey equipment.

If businesses would like to contribute an additional donation of $10 to $20 dollars each month please call 800/255-6815 to make the arrangements to do so.

June 2007

Newark, June 29: The Energy Cooperative Round Up Foundation, Inc. awarded $35,494 to the following community groups in our service area:

United Way of Knox County for technology upgrades
Thorn Township Fire Department towards purchase of FIT testing equipment
Licking County Historical Society for office equipment
Hartford Fair Natural Resources Park
Woodlands for security cameras and equipment
Redskin Athletic Boosters (Utica High School) towards purchase of girls basketball uniforms.

Newark – The Energy Cooperative announced the introduction of a new renewable energy program called EnviroWatts. “The EnviroWatts program is an exciting new program that offers our electric cooperative members the opportunity to support renewable energy and help fund research and development of new energy options for the future,” said President/CEO David L. Potter.

EnviroWatts is a renewable energy program that gives Cooperative members the opportunity to support renewable energy for as little as $2 a month. EnviroWatts is sold in 100-kilowatt hour blocks and is available to both residential and commercial electric members of the cooperative. Buying just one block of EnviroWatts each month for a year has the environmental impact of not driving your car for three months or not using 2½ barrels of oil.

The renewable energy for the EnviroWatts program comes from methane gas produced from landfills. As organic waste decays, it produces methane gas. Rather than release this gas into the atmosphere, the gas is collected and used to generate electricity. This not only helps improve the environment, but also decreases dependence on fossil fuels, such as coal, natural gas or foreign oil. A portion of the cost of the 100-kilowatt hour block of EnviroWatts also goes to a renewable energy fund which supports research and development of renewable energy sources in Ohio for electric cooperatives.

“We’re thrilled to be able to offer the EnviroWatts program,” says President David L. Potter. “It’s important to be able to care for our environment and support renewable energy sources for the future. It’s an easy way for cooperative members to show they care about the environment – now and in years to come,” he concluded.

The Energy Cooperative members can sign up for the EnviroWatts program by contacting a Member Services Representative at 800/255-6815

The Energy Cooperative is a Touchstone Energy Cooperative that provides electric service to over 24,000 consumers in Licking, Knox, Ashland, Richland, Muskingum, Perry, Franklin, Delaware and Coshocton counties of Ohio.

May 2007

Newark, May 9, 2007: The Energy Cooperative Round Up Foundation, Inc. held an emergency session to authorize disbursement of funds to the Habitat for Humanity of Licking County to begin replacing stolen tools. This is the first time Operation Round Up convened an emergency session to respond to a community group in need, and they granted the maximum amount allowable under these conditions.

Operation Round Up is a community service program of the Energy Cooperative members, and is unique in their ability to respond rapidly in an emergency situation with a minimal amount of “red tape”. The intent of Operation Round Up is to serve those in need who are within the service community of The Energy Cooperative, especially when other funding sources are not available.

Pictured below L to R is Eli Martin,Rick Wilson, Carolyn Wolfharst, Maxine Becker-Crabill, Marvin Oneson and Kathy Bennett receiving the check from Operation Round Up Foundation Board Member Jack Schmidt.

Newark, May 1, 2007: In April The Energy Cooperative Round Up Foundation, Inc. awarded $44,944 to the following community groups in our service area:

· Licking County Center for the Visually Impaired – to assist the financially disadvantaged of Licking County to obtain eye exams and eyeglasses.
· The American Red Cross of Licking County - for course training materials, educational resources and community disaster education materials.
· Licking County Coalition of Care - for lockable file cabinets and hanging files.
· National Road Elementary in Zanesville - to purchase high quality read aloud books, and shelving units to store books.
· Licking Valley Boosters/Licking Valley High School – for one scoreboard for new baseball/softball complex.
· Heath Volunteer Firefighters Association - towards the purchase of a safety/smoke trailer to be used in fire prevention and safety programs.
· YMCA Mt. Vernon - towards needed repairs and upgrades to their facility.
· West Muskingum Athletic Boosters – towards construction of access road to athletic fields for use by emergency vehicles and maintenance trucks.
· Newark Midland Theatre Association – for tables, soundboard, fire escape ladder, and technology upgrade.

It Makes Cents For Our Community – Operation Round Up is a community service program of the members of The Energy Cooperative. Members round up their utility bills to the next dollar, averaging about 50¢ per year, and pool their donations. The Operation Round Up Foundation has oversight in the distribution of these donations, and is very pleased and grateful for the generosity the members have shown towards their communities with their donations. All donated funds stay in the service territory of The Energy Cooperative and are tax deductible.

December 2006

Newark, December 12: The Energy Cooperative Round Up Foundation, Inc. awarded $47,726 to the following community groups in our service area:

Carol Strawn Center in Newark – furniture for adult day care facility
Salvation Army in Zanesville – funds toward purchase of van
Mental Health Association of Mt. Vernon – upgrade computer equipment
Zane Trace Players in Zanesville – new heating system
Knox County Agricultural Society – towards electrification of campgrounds
Hopewell Elementary – audio visual equipment
Muskingum Christian Academy in Zanesville – kitchen appliances
Utica Historical Society – repairs to building
Mohican Out-of-Doors School in Butler – materials for picnic tables for student use

The Operation Round Up Foundation is pleased to announce that Jerry Nethers, retired Vice President from Park National Bank, has agreed to serve on the voluntary Board of Directors. Nethers will begin serving in 2007 when he replaces William Heckman, whose one year term expired.

According to Arland Rogers, chairman of the Licking Rural Electrification, Inc. Board of Directors, “We are grateful to have someone with his background and community service on the Operation Round Up Board.”

The Energy Cooperative Operation Round Up is a community service program of their member/consumers. Members “round up” their utility bills to the next dollar and that amount is donated to those in their thirteen county service area who meet the funding guidelines. All funds stay in the communities served by The Energy Cooperative.

October 2006

The Energy Cooperative held a town meeting in the Village of Johnstown to discuss electric reliability issues in the Johnstown/Northridge areas. A small crowd attended the meeting on October 18th which lasted about one hour.

Facilitator for the event was Bruce Sumner, Vice President of Electric Operations for the Cooperative. Numerous Board Members and staff attended the event, including The Energy Cooperative's President/CEO David L. Potter; L. James Walker, Jr. the Director of Power Supply and Engineering and Planning for Buckeye Power; and Bob Ivinskas the Region Support Manager for American Electric Power Ohio (AEP).

Buckeye Power is a Generation cooperative that is responsible for delivering electric power to The Energy Cooperative, a distribution cooperative. Buckeye Power contracts with AEP to deliver the electric power on AEP's transmission lines. The Johnstown/Northridge areas have had the most outages over the last twelve months due to transmission line outages on The Energy Cooperative system.

During Sumner's presentation he outlined some of the improvements The Energy Cooperative has made to their electrical system since the ice storm of 2004/2005 that included upgrades to our system, and aggressive tree trimming that has been instrumental in reducing the number of outages due to causes other than transmission failure.

Walker said that, "the number one goal for Buckeye Power was transmission reliability improvement" and they had recently increased their staff to focus on it. Ivinskas reported that AEP is spending about $1.8 million on the State Route 62 project - a six mile upgrade, and about $3.8 million on a new transmission substation outside of Hartford, with completion for both projects in 2007.

A member from the audience asked Potter, "Why don't you put your electric lines underground?" Potter explained that underground electric lines cost about three times what overhead lines do, and troubleshooting the lines was much more difficult. Ivinskas stated that if there is an outage, it was much harder to find where it was underground. There are fewer outages with underground lines, but they last a lot longer because of the difficulty in locating the problem. It was further mentioned that in the hurricane regions down south where they are rebuilding the lines, they are also above ground.