january 2013 harlan municipal utilities · licensed plumber or qualified professional appliance...

What is HMU Tel-e c o m C o m p e t i t i o n “Worth” to Harlan’s Citi-zens? This question can only be answered with approximate certainty by extrapolating reasonable assumptions to reach a hypothetical hypotheses! Say what? Let me explain. When Harlan voters ap-proved the creation of HMU Telecom in 1995, the consensus was that the telecommunications needs of the citizens of Harlan were being left behind as large corpora-tions built new state-of-the-art digital telecommu-nication systems in the large metropolitan areas while small communities like Harlan would just have to wait. Added into the mix was poor customer service, limited product offerings and corporate profits over riding commu-nity needs. I know this first hand as I was a mid-dle manager for the larg-est cable operator in America and I constantly struggled with corporate demands versus commu-nity needs and desires of the systems I managed in rural Iowa. So to answer the question concerning “Worth”, we must look at two components. The tan-gible, cash saved by Har-lan citizens and business-

es by forming a telecom utility, and the intangible, access to state-of-the-art technology. Tangible: We can estimate the cash savings to citizens by comparing the “regular priced” cable, Internet and telephone rates charged by the large telecommunications pro-vider in a non-competitive community. Typically the “regular, non-competition” expanded cable rate is $20.00 higher in other c o m m u n i t i e s . T h e “regular, non-competition” Internet Access rate is approximately $7.00 high-er in other communities. Based upon these known “regular” rates and indus-try standards on cable and Internet penetration percentages, we can ap-proximate annual savings to Harlan Telecommunica-tions subscribers of about $534,000. When we spread this over the last 16 years HMU Telecom has been providing competition, th is equals about $8,544,000 in savings that Harlan Citizens have been able to save or spend locally. Dollars that are put back into our com-munity, helping our citi-zens and businesses sus-tain our local economy. Intangible: In 1996, HMU built a state-of-the-art Hybrid Fiber Coaxial telecommunica-tions system. While this is

a tangible asset, it brought a multitude of intangible benefits. More product offerings became immediately available, including High Speed In-ternet Access; a valuable component in retaining and attracting new resi-dents and businesses. Citizen’s gained improved customer ser-vice, enhanced product offerings, and direct ac-cess to the decision mak-ers of the not-for-profit, community-owned, tele-communications provider. With the recent launch of HMU’s Fiber To The Premise (FTTP) initia-tive, the new Fiber Optic system will become a cat-alyst of future growth in Harlan. HMU is burying a direct fiber optic line to each home and business in Harlan. This direct fiber connection will allow HMU to continue to add addi-tional product offerings to Harlan citizens and busi-nesses as they become economically viable. So what is HMU Telecom Competition “Worth” to Harlan Citi-zens? T o D a t e - $8,544,000 in cash sav-ings and timely access to state-of-the-art infrastruc-ture and services to live and compete in the global economy.

What’s it worth?- Darrel Wenzel

See us on the web:

www.har-tel.com—for infor-mation on HMU telephone, cable TV and Internet.

www.HMU-harlan.com—for questions on electric, gas, water, billing, administra-tive and HMU Board infor-mation.

www.harlannet.com— local weather, local and regional links, emergency messag-es, Harlan Theater listings.

Harlan Municipal Utilities

January 2013

Please help our meter readers. Keep snow from building up around gas meters and, if possible, clear a path to make it easi-er for meter readers to get to electric, gas and water me-ters. A little extra time shoveling a path to your meter is greatly appreciat-ed.

Support your local meter reader

REMINDER: Submit appli-ance and insulation re-bate applications for 2012 before February 1, 2013 to ensure payment. Appli-cations for 2012 received after January 31, 2013 will not be processed.

The recent snow and brutally cold weather affect your utility service.

Please do not in-tentionally blow or shovel snow on to or near any electrical, gas, water or telecom boxes or facilities. Doing so could cause damage leading to an outage or result in slower than needed response times in times of outages.

One reason to keep facilities like transformers or tele-

dizziness, persistant cough, fatigue, eye and upper respiratory tract irritation, wheezing or increased angina in people with coronary disease.

If you suspect a build up of CO in your home or business, it is important to promptly leave first and then call emergency responders to gain medical atten-tion if necessary. Have a qualified person test CO levels within the

C a r b o n monoxide (CO) is an odorless, colorless gas c r e a t e d b y a n incomplete burning of oil or gas by-products. Potent ia l sources include automobiles, gas appliances, gas furnaces, chimneys, charcoal grills and portable kerosene heaters.

Some common symptoms of CO poisoning are: nausea, vomiting, headache,

home before returning. HMU will perform a free CO test.

W h i l e C O alarms can be a useful secondary line of defense, the primary line of protection is prevent ion, which inc lud es regu la r , p r o f e s s i o n a l inspections of gas and other fuel burning appliances. Chimney flues should be cleaned regularly. Never use charcoal or propane

Carbon Monoxide poisoning is preventable.

2412 Southwest Avenue


Phone: 712-755-5182 Fax: 712-755-2320

E-mail: [email protected]

Harlan’s Premier Provider of Electric,

Gas, Water and Telecommunications.

grills inside as a heat-ing source or for cook-ing. Never leave a car running in a closed garage, especially a garage attached to or under living quarters.

Simple regular maintenance and in-spection of appliances and safe habits can lower your chances of carbon monoxide poi-soning.

com boxes uncovered is to prevent them from being hit by snowplows or front loaders removing snow. WHEN OPERAT-ING PLOWS OR POW-ERED SNOW REMOV-A L E Q U I P M E N T WATCH FOR BOXES ALONG ALLEYS, COR-NERS AND DRIVE-WAYS. Know where the boxes are before you start.

In case of electri-cal outages, HMU does not supply emergency genera-

tors. If you have a critical need for elec-tricity, consider buy-ing a back up genera-tor or prepare a con-tingency plan.

Check any fur-nace intakes or out-lets to make sure they are not covered by drifts or plugged by snow. Plugged outlets can lead to the build up of carbon monox-ide inside the house (see separate article below).

Winter tips

Many of us are familiar with Dorothy’s line from the Wizard of OZ describing the fears in the land of OZ - Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! In today’s Inter-net world, the saying might be “Spam and Viruses and Hackers. Oh my!”

The prolifera-tion of the Internet is truly a modern marvel. Our society has pro-gressed from mailing and faxing documents to scanning and e-mailing them. We can work, shop, window browse, do research, spell check, chat with friends and family, while never leaving the comfort of the easy chair.

While there are a multitude of positive attributes to the Inter-net, there is an element of fear. The fear of be-ing scammed, infected and hacked.

Spam is the Internet equivalent of junk mail sent through the postal service. In-ternet Service Providers

install and maintain spam blocking servers in an attempt to throttle back the pipe clogging effect of trillions of spam emails sent every day over the Internet. Even with spam block-ing efforts, a few pesky spam e-mail make it through to the end con-sumers. Some of these spam e-mails include scams trying to get money from unsuspect-ing consumers.

Viruses are ma-licious attacks upon Internet users with the intent to cause harm to your computer or serv-er. The term “malware” is also a form of a virus that can infect your computer. Viruses can also manifest inside your computer and send out spam e-mails w i t h o u t y o u r knowledge.

In my opinion, hackers can pose the biggest threat and fear of identity theft. By hacking into your com-puter and accessing personal information, they can cause great financial harm to an

individual or family.

In the Wizard of OZ, Dorothy has a “good witch” looking out for her. Who is looking out for residen-tial Internet users? In-ternet users are on their own to face these Internet fears. Con-sumers must decide and take action to pre-vent spam, viruses and hackers from gaining access to their comput-ers. Honestly, it can be confusing for most In-ternet users.

HMU is current-ly working with an out-side vendor on a single, simple solution for In-ternet users that will offer protection from these fears. Watch for news on a new Internet security plan from HMU that will give you some comfort by knowing someone is helping you conquer these fears found on the Internet.

Spam and Viruses and Hackers! OH MY!- Darrel Wenzel

See us on the web:

www.har-tel.com—for infor-mation on HMU telephone, cable TV and Internet.

www.HMU-harlan.com—for questions on electric, gas, water, billing, administra-tive and HMU Board infor-mation.

www.harlannet.com— local weather, local and regional links, emergency messag-es, Harlan Theater listings.


February 2013

New HD channels on HMU cable.

Channel 116

Channel 117

Channel 118

Channel 125

Channel 148

Channel 149

Channel 162

Gas connectors are corrugated metal tubes used to connect gas appliances to gas sources.

Older gas connect-ors made of uncoated brass (example pic-tured) are susceptible to cracking, breaking and deterioration due to moving, bending, corrosion or the way they were made. The connectors have a flaw in how the tubing was joined to the end pieces. Over time, the end pieces can sepa-rate and cause a gas leak, which could lead to property damage or injury if not replaced immediately.

To our knowledge, these brass connect-ors have not been

Six HMU employees were recognized for their years of service at the January 12th Employee Recogni-t i o n B a n q u e t . (L to R) Ron Block, Water Department, 20 years. Charlie Conrad, Gas/Meter Department, 25 years. Jenney Kelly, Ad-ministration, 10 years. Al Ickes, Gas/Meter Depart-ment, 30 years. Donald Cote, Water Department, 5 years. Not pictured: Dar Gessert, Gas/Meter De-partment, 15 years.

HMU employees recognized for service



Phone: 712-755-5182 Fax: 712-755-2320

E-mail: [email protected]

Harlan’s Premier Provider of Electric,

Gas, Water and Telecommunications.

manufac-tured for over 20 years, but many are still in use. Not all uncoated brass con-nectors have this flaw, but all should be inspected by a professional and re-placed with stainless steel connectors. Gas applianc-es in your home that should be checked include: Range, oven or cook top, clothes dryer, hot water heater or auxiliary area heat-ers. Do NOT attempt to move the appliance yourself to check the connector. Contact a licensed plumber or qualified professional appliance repair ser-

vice to inspect your connectors and re-place them if neces-sary.

If an HMU employ-ee finds a brass flex connector on an ap-pliance in your home, the appliance will be red tagged and shut off at the appliance, if possi-ble, or gas to the home will be shut off until the line is re-placed. This is for your safety.

Gas Safety

Congratulations to all the outstanding HCHS bowlers, wrestlers, girls and boys basketball teams! The commu-nity is very proud of your hard work and dedication that lead to fantastic 2012/2013 sea-sons .

HMU was all set to air the entire final State Girls basketball game on March 2nd. Unfor-tunately, KPTM, who carried the game and whose signal we pick up, experienced tech-nical difficulties and was frantically adjusting their sat-ellite dish to get the broadcast up and running. At ap-proximately 6:35 pm they were able to restore the live feed of the game and HMU rebroad-

cast the remainder of the game.

Those of us that were not able to attend the game were anxiously awaiting the start of the game and missing it was ex-tremely disappoint-ing. HMU techs were on-call and making phone calls into KPTM to re-solve the matter. It was extremely frustrating for the techs as well as HMU customers as the problem was beyond HMU con-trol.

Congratulation to the boys basketball team for an out-standing regular season and on mak-ing it to the state tournament. We wish the boys bas-ketball team a suc-cessful state out-come!

If you have been watching the HMU Board meetings you may have noticed that we are watch-ing the water ta-bles in our well fields very closely. 2002 was the last time drought condi-tions required a wa-ter conservation notice to be issued in Harlan. Current well levels are ap-proximately 1 foot higher than the well levels at this time in 2002.

If the HMU Board declares a water conservation warning, HMU will make specific de-tai ls avai lable through all availa-ble media outlets. Hopefully Mother Nature will provide us with the spring rains needed to re-fill and raise the well levels.

Winner! Winner!- Darrel Wenzel, HMU CEO

See us on the web:

www.har-tel.com—for infor-

mation on HMU telephone,

cable TV and Internet.

www.HMU-harlan.com—for

questions on electric, gas,

water, billing, administra-

tive and HMU Board infor-

mation

www.harlannet.com— local

weather, local and regional

links, emergency messag-

es, Harlan Theater listings.

Harlan Municipal

Utilities

March 2013

Each major league

baseball team is allowed to

d e s i g n a t e c e r t a i n

geographic areas as their

h o m e a r e a . T h e s e

designated areas may be

subject to TV blackout

restrictions meaning games

from that team will not be

shown in the home area.

The MN Twins,

Milwaukee Brewers, Chicago

Cubs, Chicago White Sox

and St. Louis Cardinals have

all designated Shelby

County, Iowa as part of their

home area. Games featuring

these teams may be blacked

out on the HMU cable

s ys tem even i f th e

programming guide lists the

game.

G a m e s a r e

automatically blacked out by

the networks and HMU has

no control over which games

are shown or blacked out.

Batter UP!

If you have a natural gas line that runs underground, for example to a heater in a garage, this line is after the gas meter. Here is a safety rec-

ommendation:

We operate our gas system with an emphasis on safe-ty. We’re required to design, operate and maintain our under-ground natural gas pipeline system ac-cording to prescribed

federal standards.

April is the best time to enroll. Billing histo-ry of at least one year at your current resi-dence and a non-delinquent account is

required to enroll.

New Budget Billing payments will be calculated in April for bills due in May. Current Budget Billing customers should re-view your account balance and deter-mine if your budget payments are going

Budget Billing helps avoid wide swings in seasonal utility payments and makes it easier to budget month to

month.

HMU’s Budget Billing program runs from April through March of each year. If you are interested in leveling out your utili-ty payments over 12 months to avoid sea-sonal heating and cooling billing peaks,

to cover your actual usage for the last

year.

The “Account Balance” shown on your statement is the amount you owe be-fore payment of this bill. If it is a negative amount (CR), you have a credit balance and have paid in more than you have actually used. If it is a positive amount, this is the amount you still

owe.

Budget Billing—April is the time to enroll.

2412 Southwest

Avenue

Harlan

Municipal

Utilities

Phone: 712-755-5182

Fax: 712-755-2320

E-mail:

[email protected]

Harlan’s Premier

Provider of Electric,

Gas, Water and

Telecommunications.

Now is a good time to use up any excess credit or to settle up your remain-ing balance by mak-ing an additional pay-ment. Any positive or negative balance re-maining when we re-calculate budget Bill-ing will be rolled over into your new pay-

ment.

Budget Billing is a free optional ser-

vice from HMU.

HMU does not maintain any gas pip-ing that occurs AFTER the meter. This is the responsibility of the customer who owns the pipe. If a buried pipe is not properly maintained it may be subject to corrosion

or leakage.

To ensure con-tinued safe and relia-ble operation, these lines should be checked periodically. You, or the building owner if you live in rental property, are advised to contact a licensed plumber or

heating contractor to assist you in locating and inspecting your buried gas lines. If any unsafe condition is discovered, repairs should be made im-

mediately.

If we can an-swer any questions related to natural gas, please call us at 755-5182. As always, call Iowa One Call at 811 or 1-800-292-

8989 before digging!

Underground Gas Pipe Maintenance Notice

The signs are

slowly appearing. It’s

light in the mornings

when we come to work,

temperatures are

climbing into the 60’s,

glints of green grass

are poking out of the

last remaining snow and

the Dairy Queen is

open. All signs point

to…construction sea-

son.

This is the time

of year we work toward

completing current pro-

jects and plan for new.

With four utili-

ties providing critical

infrastructure, we are

constantly replacing or

renewing lines and

pipes to meet customer

demands, regulatory

guidelines and to re-

place aging equipment.

Here’s an up-

date on current pro-

jects and what’s ahead

at HMU:

Water plant: The new

water plant is about

85% complete. The

projected time frame

for start up and testing

is mid July and the

plant is scheduled to be

on-line 100% operation-

al by December.

The construc-

tion you see near our

old office and clear

well is infrastructure

related to serving the

town from the new wa-

ter plant. We had to

add some additional

pipes and pumps to con-

vert from the old wa-

ter plant on Chatburn

Ave.

Fiber to the home:

The final cut over from

the old overhead fiber

running from 8th and

Cyclone to 19th Street

south to the west sub-

station and back east

along Chatburn is done.

Customers have been

converted from the old

original HFC lines to

the new fiber system.

Pole removals: Poles,

overhead electric and

telecom lines along Cy-

clone, 19th Street and

some in the south 12th

street area will be re-

moved beginning April

15th. Removing all the

infrastructure should

be done by June 1st.

Interconnect: One new

project this year is

building two miles of

fiber optic lines from

the new office to a ma-

jor Internet backbone

connection at 900th

Street and Oak Road.

This new interconnect

provides a redundant

path for Internet traf-

fic in to and out of

Harlan. This should be

done by May 31st.

Since this is

construction season for

you too, here’s a

friendly reminder to

call Iowa One call be-

fore you dig.

Going up! - Darrel Wenzel CEO

See us on the web:

w w w . h a r - t e l . co m — f o r

information on HMU

telephone, cable TV and

Internet.



w a t e r , b i l l i n g ,

administrative and HMU

Board information.


weather, local and

regional links, emergency

messages, Harlan Theater

Harlan Municipal

Utilities

April 2013

Spring yard work

means digging. Always

call to have your

underground utilities

located before you dig.

Call before

you dig

We’ll flush hydrants the

week of April 22nd. Check

water quality before doing

laundry or dishes. If your

water appears cloudy, let

it run until clear. If it does

not clear in a reasonable

amount of time, call us.

Hydrant

flushing

Spring is the time for construction. Watch for construction vehi-cles and drive safely

in construction zones.

April is the time to sign up for Budget Billing. It’s a quick and easy way to level out your monthly utili-

ty bills.

April is also a great month to schedule a tune up for your air conditioner to make sure it operates at peak efficiency during

the summer.

Major League Base-ball (MLB) teams des-ignate a home TV territory that is sub-ject to blackout. The Chicago Cubs, Chica-

2412 southwest

Avenue

Harlan

Municipal

Utilities

Phone: 712-755-5182

Fax: 712-755-2320

E-mail:

[email protected]

Harlan’s Premier


Gas, Water and

Telecommunications.

go White Sox, Milwau-kee Brewers, Minne-sota Twins and St. Louis Cardinals have designated Shelby County, as part of this home TV territory. We’ve been reminded by TBS (channels 14 and 114) that regard-less of where a game is played, each TBS cablecast of a game will be blacked out within the home tele-vision territory of each participating team. So even if the game appears in the program guide, the actual game may be blacked out on our

system.

HMU does not control blackouts. They are

controlled by MLB, the teams and the network covering the game. If a game on TBS is blacked out, HLN (Headline News) will appear on chan-nel 14. Channel 114 will go blank. Black-outs may occur on any network that car-

ries MLB.

The annual HMU Mu-nicipal Celebration is s c h e d u l e d f o r Wednesday, June 12th. Watch for your RSVP post card in

next month’s bill.

Bits and Pieces

direct donation. Y o u r contribution is voluntary, flexible, a n d t a x deductible. People qualifying for help a re ca re fu l l y identified by an area social service agency and the entire program overseen by a local committee. Contact HMU for

more details.

P r o j e c t Share assists needy households in paying energy bills and making improvements to their home to reduce future

energy bills.

You may add a regular contribu-tion to Project Share through your monthly utility payment or by making a one time

Project Share

Dear Harlan Municipal Utilities,

I’d like to help a neighbor in need with

a contribution to Project Share.

Name__________________________

Address________________________

Phone__________________________

I will contribute $__________ per month. I understand this amount will be added to my

monthly utility bill.

I have enclosed a one time donation to Pro-

ject Share in the amount of $__________

For the 6th time

since its inception, Har-

lan will host RAGBRAI

XLI on Sunday, July

21st. This year’s theme

is Pit Stop!

When Harlan

hosted RAGBRAI in

2008, about 10,000

riders went through. As

of May 1st, over

15,000 rider’s have

registered. When you

consider the number of

personnel required to

support the riders as

well as visitors to town

to experience the

event, you can see how

the total number of at-

tendees will swell.

When you have this

many people in town,

the economic benefits,

as well the ability to

showcase how nice it is

in Harlan, are evident.

Currently, there

are about 50 communi-

ty members working on

Harlan’s RAGBRAI com-

mittee. About 300-500

volunteers of all ages

will be needed for a

variety of duties. No

experience is necessary

and the only require-

ment is a friendly smile.

If you would like to vol-

unteer, contact Margie

Schenck at 755-3547

or Sherry Kauffman at

755-7298.

Overnight hosts

are also needed. The

Committee is looking

for persons willing to

loan riders a bed or

even a small piece of

their yard on which the

riders can pitch a tent.

All accommoda-

tions are needed to

host single, family and

group riders. Anything

from a soft bed, a

couch, a cot in the gar-

age, or even space on

the floor will be appreci-

ated by riders. Larger

spaces like a side yard

or driveway are needed

for support RV’s camp-

ers and other vehicles.

If you have ANY space

you can offer, please

contact Dave Pedersen

at 755-3477 or Jane

Nielsen at 402-709-

2475 or 755-3569.

Riders require or expect

few, if any, amenities.

_______

The 2013 Wa-

ter Quality report has

been released. This

report is designed to

inform you about the

quality of water we de-

liver to you every day.

Once again, no violation

of guidelines was

found.

Copies of the

report were published

in the Harlan Newspa-

per and are available at

our front counter and

on harlannet.com. Cop-

ies were also delivered

to large employers and

apartment buildings.

Pit Stop! And Water Quality -Darrel Wenzel CEO

See us on the web:








mation.



links, emergency messages,

Harlan Theater listings.

Harlan Municipal

Utilities

May 2013

We’re gearing up for

our annual Munici-

pal Celebration on

June 12th and

you’re invited to at-

tend. If you are plan-

ning on joining us,

please fill out the

enclosed RSVP post

card and drop it in

the mail. We’re look-

ing forward to seeing

you!

Municipal

Celebration RSVP

In honor of Memorial Day,

The HMU office will be closed

Monday, May 27th.

Emergency calls taken at 755-5182

Spring yard work


call to have your



Call before you dig

This month is a good time to look around your home and eliminate potentially deadly electric haz-ards.

Start with your wiring. Homes over 40 years old may not be wired to handle a modern electric load. A complete electrical inspection may be in order to ensure your wiring and fuse box can handle today’s electric demand.

Check outlets. Older homes may still have two prong out-

tem, including f i l ters and

ducts, to en-sure efficient

operation.

During the

cooling season, check and

clean filters regularly. Sys-

tems w i t h clean filters

use less elec-tricity.

Set air condi-

Hot weather is on the way. Here are

some energy and money saving tips

that will help keep you cool this

summer while lowering your en-

ergy bill.

Now is the

time to have a qualified ser-

vice person check your

central air sys-

tioners at 78 degrees unless

you have an e l de r l y o r

young family member that

needs it cooler for health rea-

sons.

Draw shades

and blinds to shade the sun.

Use ceiling or

box fans to cir-

culate air.

Summer Energy Saving Tips


Harlan, Iowa 51537

Harlan

Municipal

Utilities

Phone: 712-755-5182

Fax: 712-755-2320

E-mail:

[email protected]

Harlan’s Premier


Gas, Water and

Telecommunications.

Turn off lights

and appliances

not in use.

Install a high

efficiency A/C unit. HMU of-

fers rebates for energy saving

systems. See us for details.

For more energy saving tips, visit

harlannet.com.

lets. Adapters or ‘cheater’ plugs that convert three prong cords to two prong outlets are a tempo-rary fix. Replace out-lets with modern three prong receptacles and keep things safe. Cov-er unused outlets ac-cessible to children.

Check power cords. Make sure all power cords are in good condition not frayed, cracked, cut or chewed by pets. Nev-er remove the ground pin (the third prong). Change the outlet to

accommodate the plug.

Extension cords. Another tem-porary fix. If power is needed in an area that doesn't have an outlet, install a new recepta-cle instead of perma-nently using an exten-sion cord.

Outdoor Safe-ty. When painting, cleaning gutters or doing work requiring a ladder, always look up for overhead power lines.

May is National Electric Safety Month

It is hard to believe it’s been a year since I began working here at

HMU. Running four different utilities makes this a very busy place and there is not room to list all

the accomplishments this past year. Here are few of the high-lights that have been accomplished by the

dedicated and hard working employees of

HMU.

Getting the

Overhead Electric and Telecommunica-t i o n s p r o j e c t s wrapped up with con-tractors just arriving this week to tear

down the old infra-structure. You may notice crews taking

down the wires and removing poles this

month.

HMU employ-ees and customers are getting pretty well adjusted to the new administration

building. It is quite a change from the old offices that were in place for nearly 30

years.

Began upgrad-ing street and traf-fic lights to new su-per efficient LED

lights, saving HMU ratepayers signifi-cant dollars over the long haul. The new LED traffic lights are also a safety im-

provement to vehicle and pedestrian traf-

fic.

Held major telecommunication strategy sessions to set a course for im-

provement to the HMU telecom ser-vices and offerings. Keep tuned in as the changes begin to

take shape over the

new year.

The last major point I’ll touch on is

the recent launch of HMU on Facebook and Twitter! If you want to know what’s going on at HMU, sign

up to get messages and updates from HMU on these two

apps!

It’s been a great and productive first year. I look for-

ward to many more.

One down-Darrel Wenzel CEO

See us on the web:








mation.





Harlan Municipal

Utilities

June 2013

In honor of Independence day, the HMU office will be

closed Thursday, July 4th. Call 755-5182 in case of

emergency.

Have a happy and safe 4th of July from all of us at

HMU!

Spring yard work


call to have your



Call before you dig

Follow HMU news

and events

on Twitter

(@harlanutilities)

and Facebook

On May 23,

2013 the Harlan Mu-

nicipal Utilities Board

of Trustees voted to

increase gas and wa-

ter rates effective July

1, 2013.

Gas commodi-

ty rates will increase

2.5%. This rate has

not gone up since

2001. The increase is

to account for normal

cost increases over

the last 12 years as

well as to meet the

increasing cost of op-

erating a safe sys-

tem.

fraud and spam. With fully

managed virus and spy-

ware protection, a popup

blocker and personal fire-

wall, SecureIT stops and

eliminates Internet threats

without any user interac-

tion.

2) Do not click on suspicious

messages before reading

them

This may be the number

one cause of downloading

malicious files. These

messages usually come in

the form of a “pop-up”

window wanting you to

“click here,” for a PC tune

up or stating you need to

update your PC security

coverage program. If a

message like this appears,

immediately save any cur-

rent work or files and re-

start your computer. This

will close the Internet

browser displaying the

The Internet is a routine

part of our life. From e-mail

and online chatting with

friends, to banking, shop-

ping, and surfing, the Inter-

net is an extremely useful

tool. However, it comes with

inherent dangers that can

impact you personally and

financially.

Malware, virus, and spy-

ware threats are not only

growing in number but con-

stantly evolve finding new

ways to infect your computer.

Here are some ways to pre-

vent security threats.

1) Safeguard your computer

with a robust Internet securi-

ty program like SecureIT

Using an Internet security

program is the single most

important step you can

take to protect your com-

puter. SecureIT will keep

you and your family safe

against viruses, hackers,

message.

3) Don’t assume links are

safe or malware free

Links can redirect you to

malicious sites. Be cau-

tious of clicking links un-

less you know the site

you’re going to is safe.

4) Keep Microsoft Windows

up to date and use an up-to-

date web browser

Windows users should

keep their computer cur-

rent with the latest patch-

es from Microsoft by mak-

ing sure the “Automatic

Updates” feature is turned

on or by visiting the Mi-

crosoft Update Site fre-

quently. It’s also recom-

mended to use the latest

version of your web brows-

er.

5) Be wary of e-mail messag-

es from social networks

E-mail addresses can be

Five ways to protect yourself against Internet security threats


Harlan, Iowa 51537

Harlan

Municipal

Utilities

Phone: 712-755-5182

Fax: 712-755-2320

E-mail:

[email protected]

Harlan’s Premier


Gas, Water and

Telecommunications.

“spoofed” by hackers.

Don’t assume that an e-

mail from Facebook or

Twitter is really from the

site. Never open unex-

pected attachments and

be wary of clicking on links

– especially if you’re being

told to “update your ac-

count”. If you do click on a

link and are taken to a

web page that asks you to

log into the site, DON’T DO

IT – you may be handing

your password or critical

financial information to the

hackers.

Virus infections, lost data

or computer errors are not

only an inconvenience, but

can actually become a hard-

ship. Protect yourself by

practicing these tips, as well

as with an Internet security

program such as SecureIT

offered by HMU. Call us at

755-5182 for information.

The increase

in expenses includes

more mandated em-

ployee training and

recertification plus

public outreach safe-

ty campaigns.

The 8% water

increase is a sched-

uled adjustment in

order to pay for the

new water treatment

plant. The increase

will be applied to us-

age. The total cost of

the plant is estimated

to be $7,035,000.

Construction

on the new plant on

Southwest Avenue

continues. We expect

to start testing inter-

nal plant functions,

such as pumps and

electronics, in July.

Rigorous test-

ing and sampling of

the water must be

taken, submitted to

and approved by the

Iowa DNR before the

plant is brought on

line. We anticipate

the plant will be fully

operational in late

August or September.

Water Rate Adjustment Notice

Summer is in

full swing and now

that the rains have

subsided a bit, con-

struction season is

going full speed

ahead. All types of

construction work-

ers with safety

vests and safety

cones in plain sight

are out and about

on roadways. It is a

good time to re-

member to slow

down and let these

folks get the im-

provements com-

pleted for all of

our benefit.

HMU has

three major under-

ground projects

that are being

worked on this

summer. Contract

crews continue to

remove poles and

wires from the

electric under-

ground upgrade.

HMU person-

nel are installing

two miles of fiber

optic cables south-

east of Harlan to a

national fiber optic

connection point.

This will bring HMU

tremendous bene-

fits of additional

bandwidth capacity

as well as redun-

dant broadband

connectivity into

and out of Harlan.

HMU Elec-

trical crews will be

finishing an up-

grade of a 30 to 40

year old section of

600 amp under-

ground distribution

wire later this

month.

Later this

fall or early winter,

a professional for-

ester will be har-

vesting and mani-

curing HMU’s 30

acres of woodlands

located next to the

Nishnabotna River.

It is important to

properly manage

this forest area to

maintain future

growth of mature

trees as well as new

trees. HMU will

receive $40,000 by

allowing this har-

vesting under the

watchful eye of a

professional for-

estry expert.

Last ly , I

want to thank all of

HMU customers

that attended the

annual Municipal

celebration at Vet’s

Auditorium on June

12th. HMU employ-

ees are delighted

to host and serve

dinner to HMU cus-

tomers at this an-

nual event.

Going Up and Coming Down-Darrel Wenzel CEO

See us on the web:








mation.





Harlan Municipal

Utilities

July 2013

Summer construction


call to have your



Call before you dig

Follow HMU news

and events

on Twitter

(@harlanutilities)

and Facebook

We’ve been for-tunate. Severe weather brought power outages to some communities but we’ve been unaf-fected. Here are some reminders in case an outage occurs: If you experience

an outage, please call us at 755-5182. Knowing who’s without ser-vice helps us find the source of the outage.

Please call only once unless you think power has been restored to your area but you

from reaching customers in a one month period.

About 87% of all e-mail processed was deemed spam leaving about 13% of all e-mails considered ‘legitimate’ and delivered. (see chart at right).

If you think you get a lot of spam now, imagine what it would be like if the Double Check box didn’t do its job and block the spam before forwarding legitimate e-mails.

Avoid spam with these simple tips:

Protect your e-mail address. Spammers can’t send mail if they do not have an ad-dress. Avoid posting e-mail addresses on the web.

Insist others respect your privacy and do

Spam is defined as electronic junk mail or those annoying messages you receive in e-mail form.

If you think you receive a lot of spam now, read on.

HMU employs a device called a Double Check box loaded with sophisticated software to help review and groom e-mails (don’t worry, it can’t read or un-derstand them. It just looks for earmarks com-mon to spam). Doing so helps cut down on the amount of spam delivered to you.

In a recent review of the Double Check box perfor-mance, we learned we blocked, that is prevented from being delivered, al-most 2.9 MILLION spam or virus infested e-mails

not forward your e-mail address to oth-ers that you do not know. Allowing your e-mail address to be forwarded in chain e-mails or sharing groups gives your address to people you do not know.

Know what you are signing up for and with who you are do-ing business before providing an address. Read the fine print. Signing up for a spe-cial offer and listing your e-mail address could lead to your address being sold to spammers. It’s OK to say no to giving out your e-mail address.

Spam Harvesting


Harlan, Iowa 51537

Harlan

Municipal

Utilities

Phone: 712-755-5182

Fax: 712-755-2320

E-mail:

[email protected]

Harlan’s Premier


Gas, Water and

Telecommunications.

do not yet have ser-vice.

It’s difficult for us to know how long it will take to restore service. HMU crews respond and re-store service as quickly as possible.

HMU does not sup-ply or service emer-gency generators. If you need electricity for medical or busi-ness critical rea-sons, consider pur-chasing a generator or formulate a back up plan.

NEVER CONNECT A GENERATOR DI-RECTLY TO YOUR HOME OR BUSI-

NESS WITHOUT CONTACTING HMU. Improper wiring could cause elec-tricity to flow back into the HMU sys-tem and injure someone working on the lines.

Assemble an emer-gency kit containing flashlights and a battery powered radio. Depending on the area, severi-ty and duration of the outage, infor-mation will be aired on KNOD 105.3 FM or KSOM 95.7 FM. Updates will also be on Twitter and Fa-cebook.

Power outage reminders

The new water

plant is finally near-

ing completion.

HMU has started

purifying and test-

ing water through

this new facility.

Many, many quality

tests must be per-

formed and ap-

proved by the Iowa

Department of Nat-

ural Resources be-

fore HMU can allow

the water from the

new treatment

plant to be inserted

into the water sup-

ply.

The old water

treatment plant

used a lime based

softening treatment

system. The new

system utilizes Re-

verse Osmosis to

soften the water.

Water plant oper-

ators are learning

the new procedures

and processes dur-

ing this test phase

while completing

their normal duties

and responsibilities

in the old lime

based plant.

Both water treat-

ment plants will be

operational during

this t rans i t ion

phase. Projections

are that both plants

will be utilized until

the end of this year.

At that time the old-

er plant will be shut

down and all water

will be treated

through the new

facility.

Because HMU is

going away from

the lime based

treatment process

that has been used

for over 100 years,

some folks may no-

tice a different

taste to the water.

The difference is

attributable to the

absence of lime in

the water.

Water Plant update—Darrel Wenzel

See us on the web:








mation.





Harlan Municipal

Utilities

August 2013

The HMU office will be closed Monday,

September 2nd for Labor Day.

Emergency calls taken at

755-5182

Closed

Labor Day

Get outage

notifications, updates

and more by following

HMU on Twitter

(@harlanutilities) and

Facebook

Krista Allen joins HMU team

Krista Allen is the new

Director of Finance and

Customer Service at Har-

lan Municipal Utilities re-

placing John Doonan. She

will oversee HMU financial

matters as well as the

Customer Service and

billing functions. She

brings a strong back-

ground in accounting and

will be a valuable asset to

HMU and our customers.

A native of Harlan, Kris-

ta holds a Bachelor of

Science degree in ac-

counting from Iowa State

University and a Master’s

degree in Business Ad-

ministration from the Uni-

versity of Phoenix. Previ-

ous employers include

Principal Financial in Des

Moines as well as Pauley

Jones Funeral Home in

Harlan, where she served

as business manager.

Most recently, she was

the owner of Present

Trends in downtown Har-

lan from 2010 to 2013.

Krista began her new

duties at HMU on August

1st. Please join the HMU

Board and employees in

welcoming her.

The Iowa Utilities

Board requires that all

utilities in the state

publish an annual no-

tice advising custom-

ers of their right of ap-

peal on certain com-

plaints and where a

qualified utility repre-

sentative can be

reached. The following

is a required notice to

HMU customers:

Customers of Harlan

Municipal Utilities who

desire assistance in

2412 southwest Ave.

Harlan, Iowa 51537

Harlan

Municipal

Utilities

Phone: 712-755-5182

Fax: 712-755-2320

E-mail:

[email protected]

Harlan’s Premier


Gas, Water and

Telecommunications.

the resolution of a

complaint may ask for

the customer service

representative at:

Harlan Municipal Utili-

ties, 2412 Southwest

Avenue, Harlan, Iowa

51537

or call HMU at (712)

755-5182 Monday

through Friday, 7:30

a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

If your complaint is

related to electric or

natural gas service

disconnection, safety

or renewable energy,

and Harlan Municipal

Utilities does not re-

solve your complaint,

you may request assis-

tance from: Iowa Utili-

ties Board 1375 E.

Court Ave., RM 69 Des

Moines, IA 50319

Phone:

1-515-725-7300 or

toll free at 1-877-565-

4450

E-mail: customer

@iub.iowa.gov

Dispute resolution notice

leyball games on HCTV Channel 23.

Keep up to date on

outage notifications

and HMU events and news by following us

o n T w i t t e r (@harlanutilities) and

Facebook.

Auto pay is a simple and easy to way to

make sure your utility bills are paid on time

and effortlessly. Sign

up today!

It seems odd to think

Computer viruses are a pain. Prevent the

pain by signing up for SecureIT+ anti virus

protection from HMU. Call us for details.

Kids headed back to school and need Inter-

net but it’s not in the budget? Ask us about

bundling telecom ser-vices to help save

money or our 1MB In-ternet Lite service.

HCHS fall sports start soon. Watch replays of

football and select vol-

about January in Au-gust, but now is the

time to plan winteriz-ing your home in Sep-

tember. Search the web for low cost, com-

mon sense money saving ideas or visit us

at HMU-harlan.com for

helpful tips on how to save energy this win-

ter.

Congratulations go out to all the HMU and

City employees as well as volunteers that

helped make RAGBRAI another great success.

Bits and pieces

See us on the web:

www.har-tel.com—for in-

formation on HMU tele-

phone, cable TV and Inter-

net.





mation.





Harlan Municipal

Utilities

September 2013

Get weekly updates

on where college

football games can

be seen on HMU Ca-

ble TV by following

HMU on Twitter

(@harlanutilities)

and Facebook.

Each week we’ll post

updates on channels

and kick off time for

regional college foot-

ball teams.

Like Football?

Like HMU!

direct donation. Your

contribution is

voluntary, flexible, and

tax deductible.

People qualifying

for help are carefully

identified by an area

social service agency

and the entire

program is overseen

by a local committee.

Contact HMU for

more details.

Project Share as-

sists needy house-

holds in paying energy

bills and making im-

provements to their

home to reduce

future energy bills.

You may add a

regular contribution to

Project Share through

your monthly utility

payment or by

making a one time

Project Share

Dear Harlan Municipal Utilities,

I’d like to help a neighbor in need with a

contribution to Project Share.

Name__________________________

Address________________________

Phone__________________________

I will contribute $__________ per month

through my monthly utility bill.

I have enclosed a one time donation to Pro-

ject Share in the amount of $__________

It seems odd to think about a cold January in balmy September, but now is the time to in-crease the energy efficiency of your home with these

easy tips.

Schedule a pro-fessional furnace tune up and change the filter. Having a tune up pays for itself in increased eff i -ciency plus an inspection may uncover potential safety hazards. Replacing the fil-ter helps in-crease airflow so y o u r f u r n a c e doesn’t have to run longer than

necessary.

Purchase and in-stall a program-mable thermo-stat. Set the ther-mostat to match your daily sched-ule and lifestyle. A c c o r d i n g t o e n e r g y s t a r . g o v , setting your ther-mostat 4° to 7° higher while you are asleep or away can save $180 a year. HMU offers re-bates for in-stalling program-mable thermo-

stats.

Check windows and doors for air leaks. Stop let-ting warm air out

and cold air in.

Check insulation

in attics and walls. Adding in-su lat ion helps keep warm air where it belongs; inside. HMU of-fers rebates for insulation. See us

for details.

If you have to re-place your fur-nace or boiler, you may be eligi-ble for a rebate of up to $400. Before buying a n e w f u r n a c e , check the rebate schedule and fac-tor that into up-grading your fur-nace to a higher

efficiency.

Find rebate infor-mation at Harlan-

net.com.

Energy Saving tips

Since we’ve been in

our new location for more than one year,

the post office is no

longer forwarding any

o n l i n e b a n k

payments that have a

405 Chatburn Ave.

address. Instead, the

post office is sending

the online bank payment to the

originator of the

check. Therefore,

customers are getting

their HMU payments

b a c k i n t h e

mail. Please check

the address on your

online bank pay accounts and make

2412 Southwest Ave.

Harlan, Iowa 51537

Harlan

Municipal

Utilities

Phone: 712-755-5182

Fax: 712-755-2320

E-mail:

[email protected]

Harlan’s Premier


Gas, Water and

Telecommunications.

sure they are showing

PO Box 71. Having SecureIT+

antivirus protection

f rom HMU and

Security Coverage

gives you peace of

mind when a problem

comes up. If you have

SecureIT+ and notice

your computer is running slowly, call

Security Coverage toll

free at 1-877-373-

3320. In most cases,

they can connect to

your computer and

run tests to check

your system for a

virus or bugs. If you purchase a new

computer, SecureIT+

will need to be loaded on the new computer.

HCSD fall sports have

returned to HCTV

channel 23. If you’d

like a copy of one

game or the entire

season, let us know.

Copies are $10 each.

HMU offers a low cost Internet “Lite” service

designed for low

demand Internet

users. It’s 1MB of

capacity, compared

to our standard 3MB

service, for $21.95/

mo. Some restrictions

apply. See us for details.

Quick tips

Natural Gas Safety notice Operating a safe gas system is one of our highest priorities. Enclosed with the newsletter is a brochure on natural

gas. Please take the time to read it and share it with family members.

ALWAYS call 811 or Iowa One Call at 1-800-292-8989 before you dig to make sure there are no gas lines in the way.

HMU will locate gas lines for free when you call Iowa One Call.

Insist others performing work for you call before they dig.

Learn how to recognize a gas leak and what to do if one happens. See the brochure for signs of a gas leak.

Do not cover or obstruct gas meters. Make sure you can get to a meter if necessary.

Keep our number by your phone and call us any time of day if you suspect a gas leak. Call 755-5182 24 hours a day.

Lifeline information

Harlan Municipal Utilities (HMU) provides basic and enhanced telecommunications services within its service area. Life-

line Telephone Assistance Programs are available for qualifying subscribers. These programs provide a monthly service

discount on telephone service. Toll blocking at no charge and reduced deposits are also available with the Lifeline Pro-

gram.

To qualify for Lifeline, subscribers must either have a household income that is at or below 135 percent of the Federal

Poverty Guidelines, or the subscriber, one or more of the subscriber’s dependents, or the subscriber’s household must

receive benefits from select assistance programs.

HMU’s voice service is a Lifeline-supported service. Only eligible consumers may enroll in the Lifeline program. Lifeline

recipients are required to recertify their eligibility every year. The Lifeline program is limited to one benefit per house-

hold, consisting of either wireline or wireless service. Lifeline is a government benefit program, and consumers who will-

fully make false statements in order to obtain the benefit can be punished by fine or imprisonment or can be barred

from the program.

See the full participation notification in this month’s Harlan newspaper or please call HMU’s office at (712) 755-5182

for details.

On September 26th, the HMU Board of Trus-tees received and filed the external audit re-port for the fiscal year of 2012-2013. The au-dit was done by Ma-honey & Gotto Compa-ny of Denison.

As an owner of HMU you may wonder what the audit means to you. Companies often hire an external auditor to give an independent and unbiased opinion of their financial state-ments and internal pro-cesses. Because the external auditor does not work closely with day to day operations of the company, their opinion provides a trusted and independ-ent second opinion giv-ing insight into how the company is running. Are we using public funds appropriately and being financially responsible?

In the auditor‟s opin-ion, HMU is compliant in all material respects and received a clean

audit report with no deficiencies listed. This is like receiving an “A” for last fiscal year. Not only does the audit re-port provide credibility for our financial state-ments, it also offers management with a sense of accomplish-ment that things are running smoothly and all financial controls are working effectively.

Audit highlights: Operating revenues

were up 4.16% or $ 5 5 0 , 3 1 3 o v e r FY2012. Operating expenses increased 5.47% or $513,975. Net assets, mostly through the addition of capital expendi-tures was up 4.99% or $1,538,872.

Net capital assets was up about 8.5 mil-lion dollars mostly due to the addition of the new water plant, infrastructure addi-tions and replacing old assets.

Long term debt in-creased almost four

million dollars due to the SRF loan for the construction of the new water plant. To-tal assets rose about 5.5 million, again, mostly due to the new water plant.

So...are we doing a good job? According to the audit; yes.

We are investing money back in to in-frastructure to better serve our customers with reliable, safe, modern and cost effi-cient utilities not only today but for the fu-ture.

We‟re appropriately managing our debt.

I‟d like to take this opportunity to thank our employees. Each year, the audit firm spends a week at HMU and employees are great at answering the audit team‟s questions or helping them locate information. It is truly a team effort that has produced a positive reflection of HMU as a whole.

Annual Audit—Krista Allen

See us on the web:








mation.





Harlan Municipal

Utilities

October 2013

HMU will be flushing hy-drants the week of October 21st. Flushing the hydrants helps keep the mains clear and increases water quali-ty.

During the week, custom-ers are asked to check their water for cloudiness. If your water appears cloudy, let the water run for a short period of time to flush your pipes. This should help clear the water. If the water does not run clear in a rea-sonable amount of time, contact HMU.

Hydrant

Flushing

Follow us! Like us!

Get outage notifications,

utility updates and more

by following HMU on

Twitter (@harlanutilities)

and Facebook

Jim Gedwillo joins HMU team as Director of Telecom

Jim Gedwillo has joined


as Director of Telecom.

Darrel Wenzel, HMU

CEO, stated, “We are ex-

cited about the future of

our telecommunications

department. With the ever

changing technology in

the telecommunications

industry, HMU felt it was

time to continue to

strengthen this depart-

ment.”

Jim brings over 30

years of experience in

planning, engineering and

deployment of broadband

services to HMU and fills

a position vacant since

2002.

The cost of natural gas has continually de-creased since 2008-2009 but we anticipate heating bills will go up this year due to colder temperatures.

The winter of 2012-2013 was unusually warm. Above average temperatures meant below average use.

Last winter, gas cost $4.71 per thousand cubic feet (MCF) or al-most 2.2% less than the year before. This winter, HMU has a con-tract at $4.59 per MCF or about 2.5% less than last year. The cumula-tive decrease over six years is 41.6%.

2412 southwest Ave.

Harlan, Iowa 51537

Harlan

Municipal

Utilities

Phone: 712-755-5182

Fax: 712-755-2320

E-mail:

[email protected]

Harlan’s Premier


Gas, Water and

Telecommunications.

We expect tempera-tures this winter to be more „average‟ mean-ing we expect individual consumption to go up and with it total heating costs compared to last year. Common sense energy practices and

installing energy effi-cient appliances help stem heating costs. Rebates are available for high efficiency gas furnaces and boilers, insulation and program-mable thermostats.

Natural gas prices down but heating costs expected to go up.

Make passwords long and strong:

Combine capital and lowercase

letters with numbers and symbols to

create secure passwords.

Write it down and keep it safe: Eve-

ryone can forget a password. Keep

a list that‟s stored in a safe, secure

place away from your computer.

Own your online presence: When

available, set the privacy and securi-

ty settings on websites to your com-

fort level for information sharing. It‟s

ok to limit how and with whom you

share information.

Connect with Care.

When in doubt, throw it out: Links in

email, tweets, posts, and online

advertising are often the way cyber-

criminals compromise your comput-

er. If it looks suspicious, even if you

know the source, it‟s best to delete

or if appropriate, mark as junk

email.

Protect your $$: When banking and

shopping, check to be sure the site

is security enabled. Look for web

addresses with “https://” or

“shttp://”, which means the site

October is National Cyber Security Month. Here are some tips on staying

safe while on line.

Keep a Clean Machine.

Keep security software current:

Having the latest security software,

web browser, and operating system

is the best defense against viruses,

malware, and other online threats.

Automate software updates: Many

software programs will automatical-

ly connect and update to defend

against known risks. Turn on auto-

matic updates when available.

Protect all devices that connect to

the Internet: Along with computers,

smart phones, gaming systems, and

other web‐enabled devices also

need protection from viruses and

malware.

Protect Your Personal Information.

Secure your accounts: Ask for pro-

tection beyond passwords. Many

account providers now offer addi-

tional ways for you verify who you

are before you conduct business on

that site.

takes extra measures to help secure

your information. “Http://” is not

secure.

Be Web Wise.

Think before you act: Be wary of

communications that implore you to

act immediately, offers something

that sounds too good to be true, or

asks for personal information.

Back it up: Protect your valuable

work, music, photos, and other digi-

tal information by making an elec-

tronic copy and storing it safely.

Be a Good Online Citizen.

Safer for me more secure for all:

What you do online has the poten-

tial to affect everyone – at home, at

work and around the world. Practic-

ing good online habits benefits the

global digital community.

Post only about others as you have

them post about you.

Visit http://www.stopthinkconnect.org

for more information.

National Cyber Security Month

$4.59$4.71$4.82

$5.29$5.94

$7.87

$0.00

$2.00

$4.00

$6.00

$8.00

$10.00

2008-2009

2009-2010

2010-2011

2011-2012

2012-2013

2013-2014

Price per 1,000 cubic feet

The November elections are over, col-lege football is in its last full month, Christ-mas lights are going up all around Harlan and the smell of Thanksgiv-ing turkey is wafting in the air. The Holidays

are approaching.

Here are some safety and energy

saving tips:

Use newer style small lights on Christmas trees. They require less power than the old larger bulb style and they generate less heat lowering the chances of fire. LED Christmas lights are becoming more common. They use even less electricity than the small incandescent

bulbs.

Use as few, if any, extention cords as possible for your

displays. Too many cords can lead to overloading circuits and a tripping hazard. If you must use an extension cord outside, use one designed for outdoor usage (weather resistant) and rated to carry enough current for your application. Consult a qualified e l e c t r i c i a n i f

necessary.

Be aware of the number of lights you’re trying to power from one circuit. Using large wattage bulbs or a large number of lights can lead to overloading circuits or generating too much heat leading

to a fire hazard.

Visually inspect your old strings of l i g h t s b e f o r e plugging them in.

Holiday Safety Tips

Harlan Municipal

Utilities

November 2013

The HMU office will be

closed Thursday

November 28th and

Friday the 29th for the

Thanksgiving Holiday.

Emergency calls taken

at 755-5182

Thanksgiving

Holiday

Weather, storage or staples can cause fraying or cracking of the insulation which exposes bare wires leading to a electrical shock or

fire hazard.

Check for broken bulbs. They’re a common source of

cuts or shocks.

Use hooks instead of staples to hang lights on the house. Staples that are too narrow may pierce the insulation and cause a short

circuit.

Use extreme cau-tion while using lad-ders to hang deco-rations. Always be aware of overhead

power lines.

NEVER place a space heater near a

Christmas tree.

Get outage and local pro-

gramming updates by fol-

lowing HMU on Twitter

(@harlanutilities) and Face-

book.

See us on the web at

ww.harlannet.com for local

weather, Harlan Theater

listings and service infor-

mation.

December 2nd is cyber

Monday. Shop on-line se-

curely with SecureIT+

from HMU. Only $4.95 per

device per month. Sign up

at harlannet.com. (For

Windows machines only)

Carbon monoxide (CO) gas is an odorless, colorless gas created by an incomplete burning of oil or gas by-products. Potential sources include automobiles, gas appliances, gas furnaces, chimneys, charcoal grills and portable kerosene heaters.

Some common symptoms of CO poisoning are: nausea, vomiting, headache, dizziness, persistant cough, fatigue, eye and upper respiratory tract irritation, wheezing or increased angina in people with coronary disease.

If you suspect CO is present in your home or workplace, leave the building, seek medical assistance and do not re-enter the building until you are told it is safe to return.

Carbon Monoxide Poisoning– Know the Symptoms

Pursuant to its authori-

ty under the Telephone

Consumer Protection Act

(TCPA), the FCC estab-

lished, together with the

Federal Trade Commis-

sion (FTC), a national Do-

Not-Call Registry. The reg-

istry is nationwide in

scope, applies to all tele-

marketers (with the ex-

ception of certain non-

profit organizations), and

covers both interstate and

intrastate telemarketing

calls.

Commercial telemar-

keters are not allowed to

call you if your number is

on the registry, subject to

certain exceptions. As a

result, consumers can, if

they choose, reduce the

number of unwanted

phone calls to their

homes.

snow and ice. It makes your meter easier to read for accurate billing and helps prevent dam-

age to the meter. Don’t blow snow on

top of any meter, transformer or utili-ty box or block ac-cess to utility facili-

ties in any way. HMU gift certifi-

cates are great gifts for that hard to buy for person or to do-nate to charity. Cer-tificates are availa-ble in any amount

HCHS winter sports start soon. Watch coverage of select boys and girls bas-ketball games plus wrestling on HCTV

Channel 23. Holiday concerts

are coming too! You can watch concert replays from Harlan Community as well as Shelby County Catholic School al-so on HCTV Chan-

nel 23. Please keep the

area around your gas meter clear of

Bits and pieces


Harlan, Iowa 51537

Harlan

Municipal

Utilities

Phone: 712-755-5182

Fax: 712-755-2320

E-mail:

[email protected]

Harlan’s Premier


Gas, Water and

Telecommunications.

You can register your

phone numbers for free,

and they will remain on

the list until you remove

them or discontinue ser-

vice – there is no need to

re-register numbers.

The Do-Not-Call regis-

try does not prevent all

unwanted calls. It does

not cover the following:

calls from organiza-

tions with which you

have established a

business relationship;

calls for which you

have given prior writ-

ten permission;

calls which are not

commercial or do not

include unsolicited

advertisements;

calls by or on behalf

and can be put to-ward any HMU ser-

vice. Change your fur-

nace filter and schedule a furnace tune up. A properly running furnace is safer and more fuel efficient. Rebates for installing new fuel efficient furnac-es and programma-ble thermostats are ava i lable f rom

HMU. Did you remember

to check the batter-ies in your smoke

detectors when you set your clocks? Do

it! Cut your winter

lighting cost by in-stalling energy effi-cient lighting like CFLs, the latest's generation LED lights or T/5 or T/8 florescent bulbs. Rebates for energy efficient lighting are ava i lable f rom

HMU. Have a safe and

Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at

HMU!

Do Not Call Registry of tax-exempt non-

profit organizations.

How to Register

For Consumers:

Subscribers may regis-

ter their residential tele-

phone number, including

wireless numbers, on the

national Do-Not-Call regis-

try by telephone or by In-

ternet at no cost.

Consumers can regis-

ter on-line for the national

do-not-call registry by go-

ing to www.donotcall.gov.

To register by telephone,

consumers may call 1-

888-382-1222: for TTY

call 1-866-290-4236. You

must call from the phone

number you wish to regis-

ter.

November 2013

http://www.donotcall.gov/

Happy Holidays from

all of us at HMU!

The HMU office will

close at 11:30 AM

Tuesday, Dec. 24th

and be closed all

day Dec. 25th. We’ll

close at 11:30 AM on

Dec. 31st and be

closed all day on

Jan. 1, 2014.

Emergency calls

taken at 755-5182

Have you ever won-dered why Electric Utili-ties promote using less of their product? On the surface it seems counterintuitive. We all know saving electricity saves us money on our monthly electric bills. Pretty simple; use less,

pay less.

It is actually a bit more complex and re-warding for using fewer Kilo-Watts (KW) and Kilo-Watt hours (KWH). First, the difference between a Watt and a Watt hour needs to be understood. In simple terms, a Watt is the amount of electric en-ergy created by a gen-erator to make a one Watt light bulb light up which is known as De-mand. Keeping the one Watt bulb on for one hour creates one Watt Hour which is known

as Usage.

Due to the extreme-ly large volume of watts required to oper-ate all of the electrical devices, the Industry uses the terms Kilo-Watt (KW), Mega-Watts (MW), Kilo-Watt Hours (KWH), and Mega-Watt Hours (MWH). Kilo meaning one thou-

sand, and Mega mean-

ing one million.

HMU’s peak electri-cal demand reaches about 15.6 Mega-Watts in a single day. This typically occurs during the summer months, during the hot-test part of the day in mid to late afternoon. Air conditioners use a large amount of Kilo-Watts to cool homes. As more and more air conditioners cycle on, the higher Kilo-Watt Demand becomes. The longer the air con-ditioners run, the more Kilo-Watt hours of en-

ergy are consumed.

So, KW Demand and KWH Usage are the two components that make up HMU’s energy costs. HMU is charged a Demand Charge and a Usage Charge by our whole-sale providers based upon the Demand and Usage of HMU electric

customers.

Therefore, jumping back to the rewarding part of using less, obvi-ously paying less for using less is an imme-diate monetary reward for energy conserva-

tion. The additional rewards come from not having to utilize addi-tional resources to cre-ate an additional Watt of energy. Fewer natu-ral resources, such as coal or natural gas, have to be burned cre-ating a cleaner atmos-

phere.

Lowering the KW Demand, means fewer additional generators need to be built. The cost to build new gen-erators at today’s pric-es is significant. Thirty years ago, a generator could be built for about $1.70 per Watt of out-put to meet Demand. A 600 MW generator cost approximately $1.02 billion dollars. Today, that price is ap-proximately $4.00 per Watt, meaning a 600 MW generator would cost $2.40 billion dol-lars to build. Not hav-ing to construct that new generator is worth the economic incen-tives utilities offer to its customers to not use

that next Kilo-Watt.

Using Less is Saving— Darrel Wenzel, CEO

Harlan Municipal

Utilities

December 2013

Two new channels join the Digital

Basic line up this month. Fox Sports

2 is on channel 229 and Fox Movie

is on channel 261.

A welcome to Patti Burroughs, our

New CSR in the

front office.

Check out the re-vamped Harlan-

net.com.

Watch holiday con-certs and Year In

Review on HCTV

Channel 23.

Quick Hits

This speeds up meter reading and allows the meter reader to cover more territory in a shorter amount of time and out of the elements. We’ve begun in-stalling wireless electric, gas and water meters. As we routinely replace meters already in ser-vice or add meters to new construction, more wireless meters will be placed in service. It’s doubtful tech-nology will completely replace meter readers, but it will make their job more efficient.

Has technology finally replaced the me-ter reader? Hardly. Nothing replaces a trained pair of eyes to spot tampering or dam-age to a meter. W h a t h a s changed is how smartly and quickly meter read-ers can do their job. In-stead of walking from house to house and jot-ting down three strings of numbers in a note-book, today’s meter reader can drive down the block and capture readings via a wireless transmitter in the meter.

Technology replacing meter readers?


Harlan, Iowa 51537

Harlan

Municipal

Utilities

Phone: 712-755-5182

Fax: 712-755-2320

E-mail:

[email protected]

Harlan’s Premier


Gas, Water and

Telecommunications.

Financial re-

serves are an integral

part of any business

to plan for the future.

They allow HMU to

maintain stable rates

and provide ratepay-

ers reliable service.

The main rea-

son HMU maintains

reserves is due to

bond covenants that

require us to main-

tain an amount equal

to the annual princi-

pal and interest plus

10%. Currently, we

have $2,354,176 in

bond reserves across

all five utilities.

HMU uses the

bond market for capi-

tal improvement pro-

jects and to replace

depreciated assets

like our administra-

tive office and water

treatment plant. Re-

serves are also used

as a buffer to help

cover fluctuating

costs, like the cost of

wholesale natural

gas, or unexpected

costs, like replacing a

transformer. Without

reserves, HMU would

have to use alterna-

tive financing options

at higher interest

rates and shorter

terms which would in

turn cause an in-

crease in utility rates.

Thus, having

reserves allows HMU

to offer a steady rate

to ratepayers instead

of increasing rates

when we are faced

with capital improve-

ments or unexpected

costs.

Financial Reserves — Krista Allen, Director of Finance

Al Ickes installing a wireless electric meter

january 2013 harlan municipal utilities · licensed plumber or qualified professional appliance...

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