Having lived in Ohio for almost 11 years now, my wife and I were reminded again over the holidays that Columbus is a 500-mile drive to something like half the US population. You see, one of our sons lives in New York City and was able to “carpool” home to celebrate Christmas with the family. In addition to taking in all that Ohio has to offer (which is a lot), we have certainly appreciated that we can simply get in the car and travel to some of the best sights and sounds the U.S. has to offer. We could not do that without the benefit of an interstate highway system.
The decades-old interstate highway system is a marvel of efficiency, moving tens of thousands of cars each day, but it is aging and in need of upgrades to keep things moving smoothly with today’s modern transportation needs.
Like the highway system, our nation’s electric transmission system is an incredible network that serves us well, despite its age. Moving bulk power at high voltages over long distances, from power plants hundreds of miles away to substations, the power is eventually stepped down to a voltage that is safe to power your home. Both systems, despite being the achievements of engineering and technology that they are, require a steady stream of repairs, upgrades, and modernizations to keep things flowing smoothly and support our 21st-century demands.
On a road trip, every time you stop to fill up the tank, part of the cost you are paying for gasoline goes to pay for those annoying orange barrels, and everything around them that eventually improves the driving experience for all of us. And in case you’re wondering if EV drivers get off scot-free, don’t worry — in Ohio, EV drivers pay an annual fee over and above their vehicle registration to ensure they are contributing to road upkeep as well.
Similarly, every time you pay your power bill, some of those hard-earned dollars you’re sending our way get passed directly on to our transmission providers to pay for upkeep and needed improvements to the transmission system. On your next road trip, keep an eye out for transmission lines. You can easily spot them along the interstate corridors in Ohio and elsewhere, as their large metal towers can carry wires up to 200 feet in the air, making them easy to distinguish from our distribution lines that are on wooden poles along the road closer to your home.
If you look closely, chances are good that you’ll see at least some of those transmission lines in some state of repair, upgrade, or replacement. This work is essential, in part because the age of these systems require it, but also because our modern power systems must increasingly accommodate power from intermittent sources like solar and wind alongside our traditional baseload generation sources like coal, nuclear, and natural gas. But that work does come at a cost that we must all bear, and like so many things in today’s world, those costs continue to rise.
Transmission costs make up one portion of your bill that continues to rise. Other costs are rising for South Central Power as well – last month, I shared with you how the cost of items like the poles, transformers, and wire we use to build and maintain our system are increasing by as much as 64% over the last year.
This is also the time of the year when management presents the annual budget to the Board of Trustees. Balancing our fiscal responsibility, rate competitiveness, and the rising costs of material, equipment, labor, and most everything else is proving to be a challenge. Our outlook for 2023 does show that an increase in the rates will be necessary to continue delivering an acceptable level of service for you, our members. I expect that this rate adjustment will be modest when compared to the inflation we see in our daily lives, yet we know that every dollar you spend on energy takes away from something else. We see the opportunity to serve you as a privilege, and my commitment to you is that for each dollar we receive, we will invest it wisely.
Even in the face of rising costs, there are ways to lower your energy bill. Keep an eye on this magazine, our social media channels, and our website for energy tips that can help you save. You are also always welcome to reach out to our team for advice on lowering your bill by making your home more efficient and other ways to use energy wisely.
From the February 2023 issue of Ohio Cooperative Living.