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C A N A D I A N JUNE 2012


V A L ELECTRALITE SUPPLEMENT TO OKLAHOMA LIVING


Safety always comes first for CVEC Our natural instincts tell use to flee from


danger. However, in a vehicle accident that brings down power lines, instincts can lead to tragic results. That’s why Dave Baber’s expertise in electrical safety, and safety education is so important to Canadian Valley Electric Coopera- tive and its members. Baber, a native of Allen, Oklahoma, is a Risk Control Consultant for Federated Rural Electric Insurance Exchange. Your cooperative and its territory is one of four he oversees for one of the largest insurers of electric cooperatives in the United States. Baber has spent his entire career working with electric cooperatives, including 27 years with People’s Electric Cooperative in Ada. His current job includes regular inspections of CVEC’s equipment, its warehouse, pole yard


and making sure its employees are following safety state and federal standards set out by regulatory organizations like OSHA and the EPA. He spends as much as a week a month at each cooperative, and conducts safety meetings with their crews to make sure they are up-to-date on new rules.


“I’m not here to be adversarial. My job is to make sure everyone stays as safe as pos- sible to avoid tragedies from happening,” Baber said.


Another integral part of his job is educating cooperative members on the dangers elec- tricity can pose. He talks to 5th graders at several area schools with hopes that students remember what to do in dangerous situations involving electricity and pass on those safety rules to family members.


For instance, instinct might tell you to flee from a car that hits a power pole, but noth- ing could be more dangerous, Baber said. Your car is the safest place you can be. “Wait in your car until the electric company is on the scene and ensures the lines have be deenergized,” he said. “Always remember that electricity is trying to ground. If a toppled wire is touching your car and you step onto the ground while your touching the vehicle you will receive a shock and possible electrocution.” He warns children about the dangers of playing in and around power substations, which can carry about 137,000 volts of electricity.


Even though the substations are fenced with warning signs, they have in recent years been too tempting for copper thieves to pass up. “That’s killed a lot of people,” Baber said. “No amount of money is worth a life.” Other tips from Baber include: — Never try to trim trees that are touching power lines. Contact your electric cooperative to handle this. — Children should not climb trees touching power lines, or try to retrieve kites, model airplanes or other items that might get caught on a line. — Keep ladders away from power lines feeding your home and property. — Water and electricity don’t mix. For instance, keep electrical items like


hair dryers, televisions and radios away from showers and baths. Never touch anything that runs on electricity when your hands are wet. — Never climb utility poles and electrical towers. — Never try to fix electrical cords or equipment unless qualified or autho-


rized. It’s always best to hire a professional to fix electrical problem in your home. — Always stay away from fallen power lines. — Always use caution when working around electricty.


The power of human connections By George Today I received a notice that another coal- file:///C|/Users/cordis_slaughter/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary Internet Files/Content.Outlook/2STCFS3J/david baber.dat[5/7/2012 2:33:32 PM]


fired electric generating plant was scheduled to be permanently shut down in Kentucky. These announcements are starting to show up as the mandated environmental requirements become more stringent. One Oklahoma electric energy producer has announced it will be shutting down one of their large coal-fired generat- ing plants located in this state. Rules have been announced by the federal Environmental Protection Agency which will likely result in no new coal-fired plants being built in the future. Other regulations which are already in place will put electric utilities in the difficult position of having to make decisions whether to invest hundreds of millions of dollars to bring their existing coal fired generation plants into compliance with these new regulations or shutting them down and investing billions of dollars in new generating plants to replace these plants. These existing coal-fired generat- ing plants met all the environmental require- ments when they were built but not today. Making the decision to invest as many addi- tional dollars in an existing generating plant as the plant originally cost to bring it into compli- ance with new regulations, is a very tough for utility companies. It also brings tough deci- sions for electric utility regulators who must approve the electric rates which will allow the generating utilities to borrow and repay hun- dreds of millions of new investment in older plants with no additional energy generated. The utilities must make the decision to spend these millions of dollars to bring their older plants into compliance with today’s regulation, knowing that there may well be a new round of environmental regulations, such as carbon emissions which could make not only the unre- covered cost of the original plant, but also the additional investments made to meet today’ regulations, a poor decision. Rate regulators know that they must allow these increases to keep the electricity flowing, but at what price. The customer always pays the price or does


without. Price is a form of rationing when we come to something as basic to our lifestyle as electricity. For some that is not a problem. If the price of salt doubles it does not reduce my consumption of salt. If the price of electricity increases to that magnitude, it soon becomes unaffordable and I use less or do without.


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