enjoy your pancakes, pg 1

learn about your new meter, pg 2

see what’s changing at CLP, pg 3

read the board meeting summary, pg 4

august 2014 www.clpower.com

Take the Pancake Breakfast to New Heights Everyone at Cooperative Light & Power is excited to invite you to attend your Annual CLP Member Appreciation Pancake Breakfast. The breakfast will be held on Saturday, September 6th at the CLP Headquarters Building (1554 Highway 2, Two Harbors) from 8:00 am to 11:00 am. This annual event gives you a great opportunity to visit with your friends and neighbors, talk with your elected CLP district representatives, eat a hardy breakfast of pancakes and sausage, or-ange juice, milk and coffee. You will also have a chance to win some fun prizes. Each year, the pancake breakfast also offers you a low-impact way to give back to your community. For the fourth year in a row, CLP will be collecting cash do-nations and non-perishable food items for the local food shelf. NEW THIS YEAR: CLP is bringing the Touchstone Energy Balloon Staff to come on-site and give tethered hot-air balloon rides! WEATHER PERMIT-TING, cash donations of $5 or more to the food shelf will give you an opportunity to take a ride! Children under the age of 8, accompanied by an adult, can ride in the balloon for free. In the spirit of the Seventh

Cooperative Principle, Concern for Community, the Touch-stone Energy Balloon Staff will present CLP with a check for

$500 for the food shelf! An Important Note: If wind speeds exceed 8 - 10 mph, the Touchstone Energy Balloon Staff will not be able to safely take the balloon up. If these wind speeds exist, the pancake breakfast will proceed as normal, but the hot air balloon rides will be cancelled. You can watch the CLP website at www.clpow-er.com and our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/cooperativelightand-power for weather and balloon launch updates. We hope to see you there!

An Important Note: If wind speeds exceed 8-10 mph, the Touch-

stone Energy Balloon Staff will not be able to take the balloon up.

Dear Member: This fall, CLP will be changing out all of our existing Turtle brand meters for solid-state Elster brand meters. This up-grade from an AMR (Automated Meter Reading) to an AMI (Advanced Meter-ing Infrastructure) is necessary because HUNT Technologies (the manufac-turer of the Turtle system) is no longer making or supporting the meters CLP currently utilizes. After careful consider-ation of project costs, hardware func-tionality and strategic concerns, CLP’s management determined that the Elster AMI product best fits our needs. This AMI system will: bring CLP up- to-date in the world of real-time energy consumption analysis, allow for flexible pricing structures and simplify distributed generation interconnection. It will also improve system reliability and save your electric cooperative time and money when it comes to perform-ing a variety of in-the-field services that are necessary with our current meter system. Member account number six hundred ninety nine thousand seven hundred seventy. The Elster meter (formerly Westing-house) is an unlicensed, low frequency

product that operates through a con-trolled mesh network. Signals of less than 1 watt are sent out periodically to gather consumer meter readings six times per day. To give you a compari-son, cordless phones, baby monitors, garage door openers and in-home wireless routers all run on this same frequency of less than 1 watt. These signals send meter information to Elster’s secure data center where it

is integrated into CLP’s billing data to calculate each member’s monthly utility bill. Note: Only meter data is sent dur-ing this process, no personal informa-tion is collected off of the meters and sent to Elster’s secure data center. It will never be CLP’s intention to sell or give any of your personal or billing informa-tion to any unauthorized third party. AMI systems have the ability to gather kWh usage, peak demand, load profile, voltage, voltage profile, outage counts and a whole host of other beneficial

electric distribution infrastructure information. They allow for consumers to review, analyze and modify energy consumption behaviors with the desired outcome of reducing their energy bill. They allow for the utility to: receive meter tamper notification in the case of power theft; offer flexible billing structures like time of use metering and prepaid billing; simplify the inter-connection of distributive generation systems; perform remote disconnection and reconnection of power without having to go to the consumer’s home; and immediately alert CLP staff when and where outages are occurring for faster restoration times. In spite of all of these benefits, many myths have circulated regarding the negative implications of AMI systems. These myths have caused fear mainly in the area of the health and privacy. While we believe neither of these items are a threat to our members, we will still offer an alternative to those that share these concerns. Members have the right to “Opt Out” of the AMI system and revert to a self-read, analog meter system.

Continuted on page 3

Watts News

Advanced Meter Infrastructure, What does it mean?Steve Wattnem, General Manager

August 2014 - Vol. 16, Issue 8

OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OFCooperative Light & Power Association of Lake County

1554 Highway 2 • P. O. Box 69Two Harbors, MN 55616

www.clpower.com

Summer Business Hours:Monday - Thursday 7:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Friday 7:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.

Call Before You Dig PowerLines Important Contacts800.252.1166

it’s the law!Call 800.252.1166 to locate underground wires.

You must call at least 48-hours in advance before any excavations (this notice does not include weekends, holidays or emergencies.)

CLP will only locate the underground wiresthat are owned by CLP, we do not locateor take responsibility for locating wires

beyond the meter location.

OFFICERS AND DIRECTORSRobert Nikolai, President, District 5

Jim Anderson, Vice President, District 3Peggy Kuettel, Secretary, District 1Stan Nelson, Treasurer, District 2Robert Strand, Director, District 4

CONTACT NUMBERSCLP Office: 218-834-2226

CLP Toll Free: 800-580-5881LakeNet Tech Support: 888-246-0073Power Outage (24/7): 800-927-5550

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The meters can immediately alert CLP staff when and where outages are occurring for faster

restoration times.

Flourless Oatmeal CookiesFrom the Kitchen of: Diane MacFarlane

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Check Out Our New Developments

1/3 cup coconut oil1½ cup rolled oats ½ cup sugar¼ cup brown sugar

pinch of salt1 tsp. cinnamon1 tsp. vanilla1 egg

Melt oil and set aside. Add sugars, cinnamon, salt & oats in a medi-um bowl & blend well. In a separate bowl, whisk oil, vanilla & egg. Add into the oat mixture, using hands or wooden spoon to work together. Chill dough 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 350°. Line bak-ing sheet with parchment paper. Form chilled dough into 1” balls & flatten slightly. Bake 13-17 minutes until edges are browned and tops are medium golden color. Cool on baking sheet 10 minutes. Remove with spatula to a cooling rack. Store in airtight container in fridge. Makes 1½ dozen.

Soon, you will see some exciting changes when you drive by CLP’s of-fice building in Two Harbors. Begin-ning in August, contractors will start to clear a spot of land west of our office building to install a 20kW solar array. In addition to the recently completed 250-kW solar array at its headquarters

building in Maple Grove, Minnesota;the system at CLP is one of 18 so-lar arrays that Great River Energy is installing throughout its service area in Minnesota. The 48-panel solar array at CLP’s headquarters will generate renewable electricity while also provid-ing Great River Energy with informa-tion on how distributed generation solar facilities can be integrated into electric cooperative systems. Funding for the project will come from Great River Energy, and they will work in partnership with CLP on the intercon-nection efforts, as well as collecting key information about the energy produc-tion and system interaction. Member account number seven hundred twenty three thousand five hundred thirty seven.

Land clearing for the project will begin some time at the end of August. Unfortunately, 6 white pines and 6 cedar trees will need to be removed to make way for the array. The good news is that those trees are already slated for repurposing. Installation of the actual array will begin in mid-October, and is expected to be completed and in-service by the end of October. Great River Energy plans to utilize solar pan-els from tenKsolar, which are assem-bled in Minnesota. For more informa-tion on their system, you can visit their website at www.tenksolar.com. Continue to watch your PowerLines newsletter for updates on the project process, and to keep up on any other distributive generation projects CLP is considering.

AttentionBudget Billed Members:

The July billing, due August 25, is the budget reconciliation bill. Please call CLPat 218.834.2226 or 800.580.5881 if you

have any questions. The new budgetyear will start with the August billing,

due September 25.

Budget Billing is a service offered by CLP to help our members better manage their fluctuating electric bill. Participating members pay the same amount everymonth in order to avoid the big swings their electricbills can take in the winter months. To sign up for

the budget billing, call CLP today.

Continued from page 2This will require manual adjustments to CLP’s billing system each month along with periodic on-site meter evaluation to ensure that the analog meters are supplying correct meter readings. For those members that choose to revert to this type of system, they will be required to pay an additional monthly fixed charge equal to 50% of the fixed charge that is in place at the time that the meter reading is calculated by CLP’s billing department. For example, the fixed charge as of July 31, 2014 was $25 per meter per month. This charge would be $37.50 per meter per month for an analog meter. Please continue to watch your monthly PowerLines newsletter, CLP’s web-site at www.clpower.com and CLP’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/cooperativelightandpower to receive updated information on this meter change out process. As always, should you have any questions or concerns, we ask that you contact CLP directly at 834.2226 or 800.580.5881. We will do our best to resolve any concerns you have regarding this process.

A regular meeting of the Board of Directors was held on June 26, 2014. All directors were present at the time the meeting was called to order. A motion was made and seconded to approve the minutes of the board meeting held May 15, 2014 with minor corrections noted. Motion carried. A motion was made and seconded to accept the Financial Statements for the month of April, after explanation and discussion. Motion carried. A motion was made and seconded to accept the Outage Report for the month of May 2014. Motion carried. In order for CLP to install wireless equipment on people’s homes a Tech-nology System Contractor’s License is necessary. A license application for renewal was presented to the board of directors for their signatures and the license application along with the Technology System Contractor Bond will be submitted to the State of Min-nesota to renew our license. Member account number six hundred sixteen thousand four hundred twenty. A motion was made and seconded to approve the payments for the month of May 2014. Motion carried.

Manager Wattnem updated the board of directors on the Elster Project. The contract should be signed shortly initi-ating the project. Discussion ensued on the solar proj-ect that Cooperative Light & Power is engaging in with Great River Energy. An action item revolves around a lease submitted by Great River Energy to CLP for the use of the property for them to install their solar system. A motion was made and seconded ap-proving the lease as presented prior to construction in October 2014. Motion carried. Member account number six hundred eighteen thousand seven hun-dred eighty two. Under the NRECA item, Manager Wattnem read a letter to the board of directors from NRECA’s Certified Cooperative Communicators Program indicating that Sarah Cron had met all the requirements to become a Certi-fied Cooperative Communicator. The board congratulated her on the signifi-cant achievement. There being no further business to come before said meeting, adjourn-ment was called for at 4:38 p.m. Mo-tion carried.

TO REPORT AN OUTAGE:Call CLP at 834.2226 or 800.580.5881

during business hours or800.927.5550 after hours.

BEFORE calling, please check yourbreakers. If an outage is found to be on

your side of the meter, you will be billed for a service call.

SPOT YOUR NUMBER:A $10 electric credit is awarded each month to

our faithful readers. Four account numbers are spelled out in each newsletter. If you find yours, notify CLP by the 25th of that month

and a credit will be applied to your bill. Credits claimed for June: Gary & Nancy Grammens & Gary & Kathleen CavallinCredits not claimed: Leah Krynski &

Joanne Lind

OPERATION ROUND UP TOTALS:June Donations: $1,543.79

Year-to-date donations: $9,060.90Thank you to all the participants! If you have

questions about Operation Round Up, or would like to apply for a grant from the Fund, please

contact CLP at 218.834.2226 or 800.580.5881, or visit our website at www.clpower.com.

Dates to Know... Aug 21: CLP board meeting

Aug. 22: Deadline for Operation Round-Up Grant Apps

Aug 25: CLP bills due

Sept 6: CLP Pancake Breakfast

NOTE: CLP dates subject to change

Read Your Board Meeting Summary

Year-to-date FinancialsYTD

MAY 2004 2013 2014

Operating Revenue 2,675,741$ 4,857,442$ 5,492,475$

Cost of Purchased Power 1,445,498$ 2,995,212$ 3,517,903$ Other Operating Expenses 983,119$ 1,582,963$ 1,633,057$ Total Cost of Electric Service 2,428,617$ 4,578,175$ 5,150,960$

Operating Margin (Loss) 247,124$ 279,267$ 341,515$ Interest Income 8,925$ 32,672$ 44,067$ Other Margins 74,994$ 7,317$ (22,493)$ Capital Credits 4,392$ 9,619$ 15,588$ Total Margins 335,435$ 328,875$ 378,677$

kWh Purchased 39,658,651 47,892,266 53,809,353KWh Sold 39,279,146 45,198,050 50,801,856Line Loss 0.96% 5.63% 5.59%Members Billed 5,348 5,937 5,976Average kWh Used, Residential 1,194 1,311 1,437Average Bill, Residential 87.88$ 137.66$ 149.90$ Average Cost/KWh, Residential 0.0736$ 0.1050$ 0.1043$ Interest Expense 107,056$ 185,420$ 170,727$

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DID YOU KNOW...... CLP offers on-line billing and

bill pay? Visit our website atwww.clpower.com for the link or

scan the QR code below.