NOVEC Discusses Utility Issues with Legislators

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Contact: Priscilla Knight, 703-392-1580, pknight@novec.com

NORTHERN VIRGINIA—Stan Feuerberg, president and CEO of the Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative, told legislators at a meeting in Manassas, Va., on Dec. 18, 2008, that stabilizing power costs is NOVEC's top priority; he asked them to address Northern Virginia's transportations problems during their upcoming legislative session.

Feuerberg told legislators that the Co-op will begin buying wholesale power from new sources on Jan.1, 2009.  "Our wholesale power costs have risen to 80 cents out of every dollar we currently spend to provide electric service to our customers.  We realized several years ago that the only way for us to hold down costs was to either renegotiate our contract with our long-time supplier, the Old Dominion Electric Cooperative, or to find less expensive wholesale suppliers.  Efforts to renegotiate the contract with ODEC produced no measureable results, so we negotiated a separation agreement that was executed in August 2008." 

Delegate Robert Marshall asked Feuerberg what forms of "green" energy NOVEC will purchase.  Feuerberg said the new arrangement will allow NOVEC to purchase power from a variety of renewable sources, including landfill-generated methane gas. He said, "The methane-capture facility at the Prince William County Landfill is planning to expand, and we will purchase the electrical output."

The president and CEO urged legislators to pass legislation that will improve transportation in

Northern Virginia . "J. D. Power and Associates survey data tell us that NOVEC customers are among the most affluent and most highly educated in the nation," Feuerberg said. "Our customers give us the highest satisfaction scores of any electric utility in the Washington, D.C., area; however, they've made it clear that delays caused by gridlock while restoring service during outages is unacceptable.  We need your help to minimize outage duration by improving transportation." 

Feuerberg told legislators that NOVEC is concerned about customers who cannot pay for heat this winter because of the unstable economy.  He said the Co-op's customers contributed more than $48,000 to help low-income people pay their heating bills during the 2007-'08 winter season.  Feuerberg explained that through a NOVEC program called Operation Round Up, each participating customer's winter bills arerounded up to the next dollar. The extra cents are put into a fund, and an independent ORU board distributes the money to social service agencies in NOVEC territory.  The agencies assist people with their heating bills.  Feuerberg said ORU hopes to help even more people pay for heat this winter.

Legislators who attended the meeting included Virginia Senator Mark Herring and Delegates Chuck Caputo, Robert Marshall, Jackson Miller, David Poisson, and Tom Rust.  Legislative assistants who attended represent U.S. Representative Frank Wolf, U.S. Representative-elect Gerry Connolly, and Virginia Senators Charles Colgan and Chap Petersen.