Contact: Priscilla Knight, 703-392-1580, pknight@novec.com
NORTHERN VIRGINIA — The Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative has asked the Virginia State Corporation Commission to allow the Co-op to reduce customers’ overall rates by 2.68 percent. NOVEC President/CEO Stan Feuerberg announced the move at the Cooperative’s 2010 annual meeting on Sept. 29, 2010, at C. D. Hylton Senior High School in Woodbridge, Va.
Feuerberg recognized five NOVEC employees who saved the life of a man — not a NOVEC employee — whose heart stopped after receiving an electric shock accidentally on Sept. 21, 2010. The incident occurred at the Co-op’s Gainesville Technical Center.
Rate Changes
Feuerberg told Co-op members in the packed school auditorium that NOVEC anticipates that the new rates will go into effect in the next few months.
“We’re the only electric utility in Virginia to the best of our knowledge to go before the State Corporation Commission this year to ask for a rate decrease,” Feuerberg declared. “We are in the strongest financial position in the 70-year history of the Co-op. We haven’t borrowed a nickel since 1997. NOVEC’s ability to maintain such a strong financial footing during the nation’s economic downturn is the result of cost-containment initiatives instituted by the Cooperative’s management, and the extraordinary skill and dedication of NOVEC’s well-trained employees.”
Feuerberg noted that the Co-op is currently serving nearly twice as many customer-owners with 4 percent fewer employees than it did nearly two decades ago, a testament to NOVEC’s achievements in improved workforce productivity.
The president and CEO pointed out that the not-for-profit Cooperative has managed finances well enough to return $273 million to customers since 2000. NOVEC calls the patronage capital retirement CashBack. Feuerberg said NOVEC returned almost $13 million in September of this year alone.
“We’ve been able to give money back to you while keeping the lights on 99.99 percent of the time,” the president and CEO stated. “And, for 11 consecutive years, we have been the most reliable electric utility among utilities serving the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. This year, we were ranked sixth in the nation among the 121 largest electric utilities in the J.D. Power Electric Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction Study.”
Feuerberg noted that while the vast majority of customers will see a reduction in their monthly bills, certain rates will increase: “The rate for street lights will increase. The cost of operating and maintaining these lights has increased significantly since the last rate change in 1991.”
Feuerberg explained that NOVEC is not a typical rural electric cooperative, because it operates in suburban Northern Virginia where “vibrant commercial and residential growth is the norm.” He said the company is forecasting customer and load growth of 3.6 percent per year during the next 10 years.
“The rate changes we have requested will still allow NOVEC to manage growth and overall power-supply costs effectively for our customers while maintaining high standards of reliability and safety,” the utility executive stated.
Man saved by NOVEC employees’ quick action
Feuerberg said, “Safety is our priority. And, the safety training we give all employees saved a life last week. A salesman, who was demonstrating a new electrical device, was shocked accidentally. His heart stopped and he collapsed. Our guys went into action.”
Two line technicians started CPR while another one ran for the heart defibrillator. A fourth employee called 911. And a fifth man directed all other workers to move the truck fleet to make room for emergency vehicles. Working as a team, the men operated the defibrillator. When the ambulance arrived, the man’s heart was beating.
Cooperative members applauded loudly when photos of the five employees who saved the salesman’s life appeared on the auditorium screen. Feuerberg thanked System Safety Specialist Roger West and line technicians Chris Bastien, Justin Bettis, Dustin Dell, and Jesse Taylor.
