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PRC and New Mexico Coop Face Off over Internet Spin Off

Kit Carson Electric Cooperative (Kit Carson) is pushing back against the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission (PRC) order to spin off the coop’s subsidiary Internet business.  In September 2011, the PRC approved a rate increase for Kit Carson but ordered the coop to create a separate internet company within nine months based on potential liabilities associated with the its Internet...

Rural Coops Positioned for Loan Guarantees

Coops in 15 states will receive loan guarantees from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development program.  The funds will help coops improve generation and transmission facilities and implement smart grid technologies.  This batch of funding provides more than $10 million in smart grid technologies and is part of a larger USDA Rural Development funding goal of approximately...

Western Farmers Electric Coop and Other Oklahoma Utilities Seek Regional Marketplace

Western Farmers Electric Cooperative and other Oklahoma utilities are working to create a regional marketplace to buy additional power.  Southwest Power Pool, a regional transmission organization, would be responsible for getting more power, at the best price, under the program.  A Southwest Power Pool representative explained the move as akin to a “carpool system.”  NewsOK has more...

North Dakota Coop to Open Natural Gas Plant

Basin Electric Power Cooperative, based in Bismarck, North Dakota, recently started work on a natural gas-fueled plant being built about 15 miles northwest of Williston.  Project manager Myron Steckler says the new plant will be capable of generating 45 megawatts of power.  The coop hopes to have the new facility operating by early 2013.  Bloomberg BusinessWeek has the full...

Electric Coops Gaining Stake in Nuclear Generation Plants

Electric cooperatives in Arkansas and Missouri are getting involved in the development of small modular nuclear electric generation plants.  The Little Rock-based Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corp. and Associated Electric Cooperative of Springfield, Missouri, are among a group of 13 utilities committed to collaborating with Westinghouse, which develops small modular reactors.  Click...

North Dakota Wind Farm Faces Unexpected Taxes

Basin Electric Power Cooperative, based in Bismarck, North Dakota, is paying nearly $800,000 in new tax revenue to school districts, counties and other governmental entities, which is about $300,000 more than projected by the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission two years ago.  Taxes for the $363 million, 108-turbine wind project, located on 40,000 acres in three counties, are...

Kansas Coop Customers See Green for Being Green

The Heartland Rural Electric Cooperative is kicking off a program to encourage its customers to save power during the summer peak season.  The Peak Savers Program will pay customers $1 for every kilowatt-hour saved during peak hours between July and August.  The coop tested this program with a small group last year, but more than 1,000 customers are expected to participate this...

Nuclear Regulatory Commission Issues New Licenses for Nuclear Reactors

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved a license for two new nuclear reactors in South Carolina.  The new licenses come less than two months after the NRC issued its first new permit in more than 30 years for two units at the Alvin W. Vogtle Nuclear Plant in eastern Georgia.  Marvin Fertel, president and CEO of the Nuclear Energy Institute, predicts that there will be an...

Vermont Electric Coop to Kick Off Energy and Environmental Management Project

Vermont Electric Cooperative is partnering with Kilawatt Technologies on an Energy and Environmental Management project.  This project aims to reduce electric power waste in commercial buildings by tailoring supply closer to consumption.  This effort will include collecting total energy consumption data across a building, determining the energy consumption patterns of that building,...

Coop Offers Members Right to Opt Out of Smart Meter Program

In response to some members’ concerns over privacy and security, Kaua’i Island Utility Cooperative in Hawaii announced that it will give its members the option of whether or not to participate in the coop’s smart meter program.  The coop remains committed to its smart meter program, but opponents continue to seek a preliminary injunction in federal court.  See Smartmeter.com for the...

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