P e n i n s u l a L i g h t C o m p a n y N e w s l e t t e r

HOLIDAY CLOSURES:

Supervising Editor: Jonathan White 253.857.1514 newsletter@penlight.org | Produced by Peninsula Light Company

is published monthly by

www.penlight.org

253.857.5950

DON’T FORGET THOSE HIDDEN NUMBERS!

Every month, 5 randomly chosen account numbers are hidden in Lights. If

you spot yours, call Ruth at 253.857.1529 and receive a

$50 credit on your next bill.

UPCOMING COMMUNITY EVENTS

Community CALENDAR

I N S I D E :

E V E N T S

November 11 - Veterans Day November 28 & 29 - Thanksgiving

Major Transmission Outage

National Co-op Month

Introducing MyMeter™

Fuel Mixture Report

Outage Texting

Enable "power management" on computers & turn them off at night. A laptop uses up to 90% less energy than

larger desktop models.

E n e r g y S a v i n g T i p

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www.penlight.org

Despite a large Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) 9.6% wholesale electric rate hike, Peninsula Light Company will be able to absorb the rate increase for its members and not raise its power rates.

The new BPA rate increases being charged to PenLight will begin October 1, 2013. Those rates will be effective for the next two years, BPA announced in a recent press release.

“For the past six years Peninsula Light has been working to improve our cost efficiencies and cutting costs wherever feasible. I am really proud of our employees’ efforts. Their hard work at controlling costs is now paying off for our members. We’re able to pass these savings along to our members in the form of no rate increase at this time. Meanwhile we have been able to continue our investment in system reliability, which remains our number one priority,” according to PenLight’s CEO Jafar Taghavi. Nationally, PenLight is on the verge of moving into the first quartile for power reliability.

PenLight’s cost containment strategy is to take advantage of low interest rates for refinancing its long term debt, limiting annual year-to-year operating expenses to a 1% increase, reducing outage costs by improving power reliability, reducing energy costs through conservation, outsourcing non-critical job functions and improving overall operating efficiencies.

Mr. Nick Markovich, PenLight Board President stated, “The board is pleased with the PenLight cost containment strategy and we’re happy about not raising rates this year. Everyone has been working hard to control costs. Being able to pass on our savings to members clearly demonstrates our commitment to them and the value of being a member of Peninsula Light Company.” PENLIGHT OFFICE: 13315 GOOdNOuGH dr NW | GIG HarbOr, Wa 98332

SCarECrOW FESTIvaL aNd dIrTy daSH 5k - OCT 5 An autumn celebration with live entertainment and music, farm animals, hay and pony rides, hay maze, carnival games, food and fair treat vendors. Features a Scarecrow Competition. FREE Admission; some activities include a small fee and suggested $2/child donation for kidz zone. $5/child for pony ride. Come join in on the fun! www.penmetparks.org

Penlight Will not Raise Rates

“The board is pleased with the PenLight cost containment strategy and we’re happy about not raising rates this year.” – Nick Markovich, PenLight Board President

PenLight CEO Jafar Taghavi

Your Co-op: Working For You!

Looking for a new way to report your outage?

Introducing outage texting.

FaLL FarmErS markET - OCT 5 The Gig Harbor Farmers Market offers fresh flowers, produce, plants, baked goods, food, handmade crafts, expert advice from master gardeners, a kids’ tent, free guitar lessons, live entertainment, and much more. 5503 Wollochet Drive, Gig Harbor.

kEy PENINSuLa Farm TOur - OCT 5 Visit eleven different farms/venues on the Key Peninsula. Every Saturday through the month of October, starts on October 5. Admission is FREE. Visit farms and see them in action! Visit www.kpfarmtour.com or www.facebook.com/KeyPeninsulaHarvestFestandFarmTour.

GIG HarbOr FIrST SaTurday arT WaLk - OCT 5 Voted by Sunset Magazine as one of the best - each first Saturday of the month. (253) 858-7449.

HHm PrESENTS TEa & TOur - OCT 17This month’s tea and tour will be an in-depth look at the Maritime Art Exhibit. Join us in the lobby for tea and cookies afterward. Free for museum members. From 2 to 3pm, occurs on the 3rd Thursday of each month. HHM, 4121 Harborview Drive, Gig Harbor, (253) 858-6722.

PIEr INTO THE NIGHT WITH GIG HarbOr WILd WaTCH - OCT 19Visit Harbor WildWatch naturalists as they investigate the marine life in Puget Sound from a night-time perspective, placing underwater lights into the darkness

drawing marine species into view that are seldom seen during the day. Watch ambushing squid, bioluminescent ctenophores, wriggling sea worms, darting shrimp and rare butterflies of the sea. Investigate the underside of the dock, viewing plumed worms hanging out, sea stars on the hunt and beautiful nudibranches prowling about the barnacle beds. www.harborwildwatch.org

GIaNT PumPkIN CarvING - OCT 24The giant pumpkin carving is just one of several family-friendly Halloween events being held at Uptown Gig Harbor. For more details on this pumpkin carving and other Uptown Gig Harbor events, visit www.uptowngigharbor.com.

TrICk Or TrEaT IN THE HarbOr - OCT 31Trick or treat in the Harbor on Harborview from 3pm to 6pm. Visit www.ghhwa.org for details.

ST. aNTHONy HOSPITaL auxILIary bakE SaLE - NOv 13Come to the Auxiliary’s Bake Sale just outside the hospital cafeteria. There’ll be a wide selection of yummy items to please your palate! Proceeds will

benefit Anthony’s Closet, helping patients who need clothing at time of discharge. For more information, call (253) 514-8944.

Using a new technology called “Outage Texting”, you can now report your outage to us using your cell phone. To opt-in, send a text to “857-00”. In the message box type “penlight”, then hit the send button. You will get a text back asking you to confirm the address. After you respond you will get a text confirming that you are now signed up for outage texting.

To notify us of your outage, send a text to 857-00 and in the message box type “out”. It will ask you to confirm the address. To “opt out” text us “STOP”. Save 857-00 as a favorite in your contact list. This new text option will ensure your outage is being reported without tying up the phone lines. If you need assistance call 253-857-5950.

0472840742874

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P e n i n s u l a L i g h t C o m p a n y N e w s l e t t e r OCT / NOV 2013

Fuel MixtuRe RePoRt

On Thursday, September 5, 2013 at approximately 6pm a lightning strike took out one of Tacoma’s Potlatch transmission lines that provides power to our service area. The event caused seven of our eight substations to lose power, affecting 24,000 homes and businesses. Since 1925 we have been served by Tacoma Power’s Potlatch transmission system. It is the sole source of power transmission that serves our peninsulas for the past 88 years.

PenLight had no outages on its distribution system at the time of the lightning strike. After Tacoma Power reenergized their transmission line, they coordinated with PenLight’s operation staff to restore power to all of our substations and members by 8:00 pm Thursday evening.

The event over loaded our phone system within minutes, we had over 30,000 attempts during the

outage to access our outage reporting system. To

address the

overloading of our phone system we are implementing two new options which include forwarding overflow to our after hours call center and outage texting (see article on back page). With outage texting, members are able to opt-in to send outage reports to us from their cell phones. Outage texting is instant and will help reduce the load on our phone system.

Outage updates can be viewed from our Facebook and Twitter sites as well as the home page of our website, www.penlight.org. Outage updates are still provided on Peninsula School District’s radio station, KGHP since they monitoring our Facebook and Twitter feeds.

When outages of this magnitude occur we are aware of the incident within seconds because of the intelligence that is installed to monitor our distribution system. Once we establish the cause of the outage and develop a plan of action we’ll notify our members using the methods mentioned previously.

With MyMeter™, you can:

• Viewagraphicalrepresentationofdailyand monthly usage.

• Compareyourmonthlyusagetotheaverage PenLight household.

• Set“markers”tonoteenergyefficiencyupgrades. For example, when buying a new appliance, simply mark the date and MyMeter™ will track how much energy you are saving.

• Takean“energychallenge”andset an energy savings goal. The challenge lasts 6 months and tracks your results in both graphic and tabular fashion.

• Chartyourenergyusagefor2weeks, 1 or 3 months, or 1 or 2 years.

• Chartdailyoutsidetemperatureagainst your energy usage (low, average and high temperature).

• Saveyourenergyusagetoan Excel spreadsheet.

• Takesnapshotofyourusage,saveto your computer or print and share with your family.

• Sendhighusagealertstoyouremail address.

• Setyourusageindollaramounts or kilowatt hours.

MajoR tRansMission outage

October is national cooperative month, the time for cooperatives (co-ops) to reflect on their accomplishments and the value they bring to their members. This year PenLight celebrates its 88th anniversary as an electric cooperative.

In 1924, when Tacoma Power was building a transmission line through the peninsulas to deliver power from their Cushman hydro project on the Hood Canal to Tacoma, the community decided it was a great opportunity to form and operate an electric utility. Meetings were held to discuss how they would move forward to provide electricity to the peninsulas. They decided on a cooperative, since many co-op farmers were already familiar with this business model. In 1925, PenLight purchased its power from the City of Tacoma until we signed our first power purchase agreement with the Bonneville Power Administration in 1973.

Today, PenLight is the second largest co-op in the state. Our core purpose remains as it was 88 years ago—to improve the quality of life for its members. We feel that we have lived up to the vision of our founding members, who took on a courage initiative and created a successful and innovative electric co-op. As we celebrate national cooperative month, let’s not forget the efforts of those local community members who started something great 88 years ago. Today there are over 900 electric co-ops serving power to rural Americans, and it all started with a dream for a better life.

National Co-op MonthPenLight Celebrates 88 years

Since 2001, utilities are required to report to consumers their annual fuel mixture information by generation category, as required in RCW 19.29A.060. The chart illustrates PenLight’s fuel mixture for 2012.

According to the report, which is based on the ”Utility Fuel Mix Report for 2013,” over 90 percent of wholesale electricity purchased by PenLight comes from renewable sources such as hydroelectricity and qualifying energy sources under the Washington State Energy Independence Act (Initiative 937). Nearly ten percent of the electricity comes from the Columbia

Generating Station, a nuclear power plant in south-central Washington.

Only 2.53% of our power comes from fossil fuel sources that include natural gas, petroleum and coal. 0762390526541

FOLLOW PENLIGHT FOR THE LATEST NEWS:

www.facebook.com/PenLightCowww.twitter.com/penlightco

MyMeter™ is a free web-based service from PenLight that allows you to track and chart your daily energy use.

Members who log into their PenLight account can see their usage for each day and monitor the days of the week that they use the most energy.

MyMeter™ helps take the mystery out of your electric bill.

Want to know how much electricity you used yesterday? Least week?

Monitor your energy use with MyMeter™PenLight’s first building & Member Certificate, 1925.

0720931055706