COM M E NTARY


Risky Business: Copper theft affects consumers, local electric cooperatives


Chris Meyers General Manager, Oklahoma Association of Electric Cooperatives


can think of a lot of ways to make a few extra bucks through good, honest work that don’t require me to risk my life. But there are some out there among us who are doing just that. They are stealing valuable copper from utility substations and distribution systems. They are making a few bucks and, consequent-


I


ly, costing you millions and reducing reliability of service. Unfortunately, some have lost their lives in the process.


There has been a rash of utility copper thefts across the country driven by the recent surge in price for commodities like copper. Copper prices were in the neighborhood of $1 per pound in 2001. Today’s price is about $4.30 per pound. Some fore- cast it will be near $5 per pound by the end of 2011. The greater the price, the more incidents of theft we will see. Many law enforcement offi cials believe that methamphetamine users are responsible for much of the problem. Electric utilities use copper to ground equipment,


protecting it from electrical surges and lightning by giving electricity a safe path to ground. Utilities also use a lot of copper wire in substations where high-voltage electricity arriving from distant pow- er plants is stepped down before it travels to your home across the distribution system. Copper is an essential component every step along the way. The few dollars gained by a thief result in big costs to you. In one Oklahoma case, the theft of a relatively small amount of copper resulted in a fi re that destroyed regulators, switches, and a large substation transformer—all together costing more than $1 million to repair. That’s a lot of damage created by the theft of about $100 worth of copper. This outage left more than 3,500 customers in the Norman area without power until crews could re- route supply to those areas.


This is a problem not easily solved. The results are counter to our efforts to maintain affordable, reliable and safe electricity to our members. Our electric facilities cover the entire state, and much of it is located in very rural areas where policing is dif- fi cult. Your electric cooperatives are working close- ly with other utilities within the state, the OSBI and local authorities to prevent, catch and prosecute these thieves. They have had some success but they need your help. Please report any suspicious activi- ties to your local authorities. OL


Regulatory compliance comes with a cost L


J. Chris Cariker President,


Oklahoma Association of Electric Cooperatives


ike those who have served before me, I am both


hon ored and humbled to have been elected presi dent of this fine organization. It is a priv- ilege for me to represent OAEC and to serve its 30 electric cooperative mem ber systems, in- clud ing my own—a gen- eration and transmis- sion co-op known as


KAMO Power—which is located in Vinita, Okla. As CEO of KAMO Power, it is my duty to make sure that electricity is delivered in a safe, effi cient and affordable manner to each of our 17-member systems—nine in Oklahoma and eight in Missouri. The efforts that electric generation and high- voltage transmission system providers such as KAMO Power make to ensure reliable electric ser- vice are never ending, and they can be quite costly. And additional compliance requirements mean elec tric generation and transmission delivery costs could be increasing.


Here’s a brief compliance history for businesses such as KAMO Power:


In 1988, the American Institute of Certifi ed Pub- 4 OKLAHOMA LIVING


lic Accountants (AICPA) issued a Statement on Audit ing Standards (SAS 55, now SAS 109) as the fi rst in a series of audit standards that changed the accountabilities in the way business is done today. In 1996, Congress passed the Health Insurance Portability and Accounting Act (HIPAA) to protect the security and privacy of health data. And in 2002, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act was passed and implemented, which set new or enhanced stan- dards for all U.S. public company boards, manage- ment and public accounting fi rms.


Finally, in 2006, the North American Electric Re- liability Corporation, or NERC, was established to ensure that the bulk power system in North Amer- ica is both sound and reliable. NERC compliance has added signifi cantly new accountabilities for training, documentation and organizational development. Compliance with NERC regulations can be both time-consuming and costly in a business climate where resources are overburdened by the demands of economic and budget constraints.


Rest assured, KAMO Power and other genera- tion and transmission providers will do their very best to implement and comply with this new set of government-mandated compliance requirements. But, there is a cost to compliance, and consumers may feel that cost in the form of higher electric bills in the future. OL


Oklahoma Association of Electric Cooperatives


Chris Meyers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .General Manager J. Chris Cariker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . President Glenn Propps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Vice-President Joe Harris . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Secretary-Treasurer


Staff


Sid Sperry . . . . . . . . . . . . Director of PR & Communications sksperry@oaec.coop Anna Politano . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Managing Editor editor@ok-living.coop Larry Skoch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Advertising Manager lskoch@ok-living.coop Christy Johnson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Offi ce Manager cjohnson@oaec.coop Emilia Buchanan . . . . . . . . . . . . Communications Assistant ebuchanan@oaec.coop


Editorial, Advertising and General Offi ces


P.O. Box 54309, Oklahoma City, OK 73154-1309 Phone (405) 478-1455 Oklahoma Living online: www.ok-living.coop


Subscriptions


$3.12 per year for rural electric cooperative members. $6.00 per year for non-members.


Cooperative Members: Report change of address to your local rural electric cooperative. Non-Cooperative Members: Send address changes to Oklahoma Living, P.O. Box 54309, Oklahoma City, OK 73154-1309.


Oklahoma Living (ISSN 1064-8968), USPS 407-040, is published monthly for consumer-members of Oklahoma’s rural electric cooperatives by the Oklahoma Association of Electric Cooperatives, 2325 E. I-44 Service Road, P.O. Box 54309, Oklahoma City, OK 73154-1309. Circulation this issue: 316,771.


Periodical postage paid at Stillwater, Oklahoma.


The Oklahoma Association of Electric Cooperatives is a statewide service organization for the following electric cooperatives: Alfalfa, Arkansas Valley, Caddo, Canadian Valley, Central Rural, Choctaw, Cimarron, Cookson Hills, Cotton, East Central Oklahoma, Harmon, Indian, KAMO Power, Kay, Kiamichi, Kiwash, Lake Region, Northeast Oklahoma, Northfork, Northwestern, Oklahoma, Ozarks, People’s, Red River Valley, Rural, Southeastern, Southwest Rural, Tri-County, Verdigris Valley, and Western Farmers Electric Cooperative.


Audit


Bureau of Circulations


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60