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Conway Office: 369-2211 Socastee Office: 650-7530
(to report power outages only) 369-2212 Board of Trustees Johnny M. Shelley President James P. “Pat” Howle Executive Vice President and CEO Eugene Harriott, Jr. Vice President Ashley Anderson Secretary/Treasurer Franklin C. Blanton Ben P. Harrelson Marcus E. Gerald Henry W. Boyd Elaine D. Gore Bobby E. Jordan Co-op Connection Editor Penelope D. Hinson penelope.hinson@ horryelectric.com Horry Electric Cooperative, Inc. is a non-profit, memberowned organization providing information and energyrelated services on a fair and equitable basis.
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We’re counting on you to join us IN THE CENTER OF THIS MONTH’S MAGAZINE,
you’ll find a booklet, 101 Low-Cost/ No-Cost Home Energy-Saving Measures for South Carolina. It’s part of a comprehensive national energy-efficiency campaign, Together We Save, which has been rolled out simultaneously across 46 states by Horry Electric Cooperative and other Touchstone Energy Cooperatives. Together We Save is a multi-faceted, multimedia approach to showing co-op members how little changes can add up to big savings. Think of the booklet as the CliffsNotes version of the campaign. Your very own ‘cheat sheet’. The booklet condenses many of the key recommendations of Together We Save into 16 informative pages that you can pull out and put to use right away. Some tips are seasonal, so keep your copy handy for reference all year long.
Thought into action If you’ll take a minute to go through the booklet, you’ll see that it shows you some really simple energy-saving techniques. The key, however, is for members to go from just thinking about changing habits to actually taking action and making some changes. Most of the tips are very easy to follow. Tip 41, for example, is “Turn off unnecessary lighting.” Other tips might require a little explaining. Tips 64, 66 and 67 focus on caulking, which can be sticky business if you’ve never done it. Never fear.
SOUTH CAROLINA LIVING | JULY 2010 | scliving.coop
Help is just a few clicks away. Go to TogetherWeSave.com, the campaign’s online headquarters, and access the “Watch and Learn” videos on energy audits, lighting, 101 L Home ow-Cos sealing, insulation and t / No Energ y for So -Saving M Cost uth C more. The video “Seal the arolin easures a Deal” covers caulking. TogetherWeSave.com also offers more than a dozen interactive applications linked to a virtual home tour. You can access TogetherWeSave.com tools and several other tools built into our own site, horryelectric.com. Fo visit yo r more en ergy ur el
Main Office P.O. Box 119 Conway, SC 29528-0119
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Adding value The booklet, TogetherWeSave.com and horryelectric.com add value to your membership in Horry Electric Cooperative. Another way the Touchstone Energy brand adds value is the Co-op Connections discount card program, which has helped our members save more than $400,000. The Touchstone Energy brand represents a nationwide alliance of more than 700 independent consumer-owned electric cooperatives. Collectively, we deliver power and energy solutions to more than 40 million members every day. We’re proud to be counted in that number. Now, it’s your turn. We’re counting on you to put these 101 energy-saving tips to work in your home or business.
James P. “Pat” Howle Executive Vice President/CEO
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New connections
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the list of Local businesses participating in the co-op connections Discount Card Program is growing, and we hope you’ll take the time to take advantage of the benefits they’re offering to members of Horry Electric Cooperative and of the other participating Touchstone Energy Cooperatives. Reliable Electric is offering 10% off to residential, commercial and industrial customers on any service call charge up to $1,000. Call (843) 249-0355 for details. The Children’s Museum of South Carolina in Myrtle Beach is offering $1 off general admission for a maximum of five people/ family. The offer is not valid with other discounts. Visit
cmsckids.org or call (843) 946-9469. Four Star Plumbing & Air Conditioning is offering 10% off their services that are not already discounted through service agreements, senior discounts, coupons, their $59 HVAC Tune-up or their $99 Drain Cleaning Special. You must present your Co-op Connections Card at the time of service, so please mention it when you call (843) 236-7142. Blooming Deals Upscale Resale Shop is offering 10% on purchases. Be sure to take your card with you to visit them on Highway 9 in Little River. Call (843) 399-4800 for directions and details!
Take it with you If you’re hitting the road this summer, be sure to pack your Co-op Connections Card. In addition to the savings right here at home, you can save in our region and across the United States. To make sure you get the most out of your summer adventures, start your trip at horryelectric.com and browse through the Co-op Connections. In the travel category alone, there are nearly 1,800 different opportunities for you to take advantage of discounts on things like camping, sightseeing, transportation, lodging, points of interest and cruises.
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Co-op Connections is your source for exceptional discount offers.
Long Point Mini Storage, located at 1082 Red Bluff, Loris, is offering two months FREE rent or yard space with an annual lease. Visit grandstrandusa. com or call (843) 491-6736 for details. Chiropractic Center for Families, located at 3448 Forestbrook Road in Myrtle Beach is offering a 20% discount on all services offered! Visit doctortori.com or call (843) 236-9810 for details.
Visit horryelectric.com for a complete list of local, regional and national participating businesses.
scliving.coop | JULY 2010 | SOUTH CAROLINA LIVING
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Horry Extra When your car comes in contact with a power line If your car comes in contact with a power line, a state of panic may set in. Try to stay calm and follow these tips: ff You
should remain inside your vehicle. If you are in your car, you are not part of electricity’s path, which always looks for the shortest way to the ground. Honk your horn to alert passersby. someone stops to help, roll down the window and warn him or her not to touch the car or the power line. Ask that person to phone 911 and contact the local electric utility immediately.
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in your car until qualified electrical workers turn the power off and tell you it’s safe to leave the car.
you have to leave the car because of fire or other danger, open the door and jump away from the vehicle so no part of your body touches the vehicle and the ground at the same time. Make sure to jump with both feet together so your feet land on the ground at the same time. you land with both feet together, shuffle away, keeping both feet in contact with the ground constantly.
Kevin Bernsen
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If a downed power line comes in contact with your car, and you must leave the car due to imminent danger, jump clear of lines without touching the car and ground at the same time.
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not try to help someone from the vehicle. If you do, you may
Avoid overloading circuits It’s another case of “just because you
can doesn’t mean you should.” Multitap power strips, surge protection devices or other adapters that expand the number of items you can plug into an outlet should be used carefully. If you exceed the capacity of the electrical circuit with which the outlet is associated, a breaker will probably trip. A tripped breaker may be inconvenient, but, as long as it doesn’t happen regularly, it’s a good sign. It means your home’s wiring system safeguards are working. If breakers trip regularly, those circuits are probably overloaded. Unplug some of the appliances or
become a path for electricity and be injured or killed. Source: National Weather Service
Kids Korner makes energy fun
electronic devices from outlets on that circuit. Then reset the breaker before turning anything back on. Move appliances or devices to another outlet on another circuit. If breakers continue to trip regularly, your home may need a wiring upgrade. Contact a licensed electrician. Say you’re using 1,500 watts of power. You divide that number by the volts (usually 120), and you come up with 12.5 amps of current. With a 15-amp electrical outlet, you’re using around 80 percent of the available current, which is the most you should be using per circuit.
Using colorful animations, playful graphics, interactive games, puzzles, science experiments, house projects and online coloring books, Kids Korner on horryelectric.com explores everything from power generation sources, transmission and distribution to electrical safety, energy efficiency and utility careers. With the lighting and appliance calculator features, kids can easily compute how many of their favorite toys or candy can be purchased for the amount of money saved by converting incandescent lamps to compact fluorescents or by changing their appliance use. Over 100 pages of content are presented online. You don’t have to be a kid to enjoy Kids Korner, just a kid at heart. “We believe it’s our responsibility to encourage and educate our children about what we know best, electricity,” says Brian Chestnut, safety coordinator for Horry Electric. Kids Korner has proven to be an excellent vehicle for not only reaching the kids, but adults, too. “And it’s a great supplement to Horry Electric’s local school involvement and other educational programs.” You can visit Kids Korner at horryelectric.com.
scliving.coop | JULY 2010 | SOUTH CAROLINA LIVING
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Co-opConnection
Restoring service after the storm Goal is to get lights back on ASAP Statement of nondiscrimination Horry Electric Cooperative, Inc. is the recipient of Federal financial assistance from the Rural Utilities Service, an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and is subject to the provisions of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, the Age Discrimination Act of 1975, as amended, and the rules and regulations of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which provide that no person in the United States on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, or disability shall be excluded from participation in, the admission or access to, denied benefits of, or otherwise be subjected to discrimination under any of this organization’s programs or activities. The person responsible for coordinating this organization’s nondiscrimination compliance efforts is Abigail Lewis, human resources coordinator. Any individual, or specific class of individuals, who feels that this organization has subjected them to discrimination may obtain further information about the statutes and regulations listed above from and/or file a written complaint with this organization; or write USDA, director, Office of Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410; or call, toll free, (866) 632-9992 (voice). TDD users can contact USDA through local relay or the Federal relay at (800) 877-8399 (TDD) or (866) 377-8642 (relay voice users). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer. Complaints must be filed within 180 days after the alleged discrimination. Confidentiality will be maintained to the extent possible.
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Restoring power after a major outage is an enormous undertaking that involves much more than simply throwing a switch or removing a tree from a line. The main goal is to safely restore power to the greatest number of members in the shortest time possible. Keep in mind if there is damage to power plants, switchyards or transmission lines, those facilities must be repaired by our power supplier before we can restore your service. Transmission lines seldom fail, but they can be damaged by lightning, ice storms, tornadoes and hurricanes. Tens of thousands of people could be served by a single high-voltage transmission line. When those facilities are working, problems in your co-op’s electric distribution system can be corrected. Three primary areas of our system must be addressed. 1 — Substations are repaired first. A co-op may have several local distribution substations, each serving thousands of consumers. When a major outage occurs, the local distribution substations are checked first. If the problem can be corrected at the substation level, power may be restored to a large number of people.
SOUTH CAROLINA LIVING | JULY 2010 | scliving.coop
2 — Distribution lines are repaired. Main distribution supply lines are checked next, if the problem cannot be isolated at the substation. These supply lines carry electricity away from the substation to a group of customers, such as a subdivision. When power is restored at this stage, all consumers served by this supply line could see the lights come on, as long as there is no problem farther down the line. 3 — Individual services are restored. The final supply lines, called service lines, carry power from the transformer on utility poles or underground transformers outside houses or other buildings. Line crews fix the remaining outages based on restoring service to the greatest number of consumers. Sometimes, damage will occur on the service line between your house and the transformer on the nearby pole. This may explain why you have no power when your neighbor does. Your co-op needs to know you have an outage, so a service crew can repair it. To report a power outage, call PowerTouch, 369-2212.
If your electric service is damaged If there is damage to the equipment where the service drop enters your home, you may need to get an electrician to repair it before the co-op can safely restore your service. The weatherhead, where service lines enter the conduit leading to your home’s electric meter, is the responsibility of the homeowner. So are the conduit and the meter base. The co-op can replace or repair damaged meters or service lines, but if you see damage to your home’s weatherhead, conduit or meter base, contact an electrician immediately to get repairs started.
Horry Extra Going to bat against breast cancer Member steps up her advocacy for early detection By WALTER ALLREAD
in 2008, Horry Electric Cooperative member Suzanne Kaplan was mad. She had just been told by a radiologist that the lump she felt in her right breast wasn’t a problem even though she felt otherwise, having already undergone treatment for and survived breast cancer in her left breast in 2004. Fortunately for Kaplan, her physician also had scheduled an ultrasound across the hall, and that test revealed what she already knew in her heart—she had breast cancer again. It was that experience that led Kaplan, an office manager for an orthopedic surgeon and originally from New York state, to become an outspoken advocate for aggressive early detection for breast cancer. “Mammograms only tell you so much,” says the 52-year-old Kaplan. “In 2004, I passed a mammogram because there was no lump; it was only through x-rays that it was discovered. “It was scary because I had no family history of breast cancer, and it made me realize how poorly our system handles early detection. Mammograms simply aren’t enough.” Kaplan says her message to women under 30 is to talk to their doctors about getting tested before a problem arises. “When you’re 24, 25, you just don’t think about those things, but you should,” Kaplan says. “My mom had a saying, ‘What you don’t know won’t hurt you,’ but that’s not true. I learned the hard way. I have to say I’ve gotten to the point when I can tell any little thing and mention it to my doctor instead of not bothering with it.” Kaplan’s struggle already has
Walter Allread
WALKING OUT OF THE RADIOLOGIST’S OFFICE
Suzanne Kaplan is tickled pink with her new Louisville Slugger, which was autographed by several New York Yankees. Her husband, Ronald, is the next batter up. He’s gripping one they previously had autographed by other big leaguers.
touched the lives of many others. She’s especially proud of her pink Louisville Slugger baseball bat that features the signatures of such prominent New York Yankees as Alex Rodriguez, Mariano Rivera, Yogi Berra, Andy Petit and more. “You have to fight cancer; you can’t let it beat you,” Kaplan says. “That’s why it’s important to have a lot of support and to stay positive. It’s a difficult, painful fight, but with
help, you can win.” Kaplan is eager to reach out to anyone going through breast cancer who needs support, who wants to learn more about the screening process or simply wants someone to talk to. Contact her at
[email protected].
scliving.coop | JULY 2010 | SOUTH CAROLINA LIVING
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Horry Extra
Power out? Keep freezer closed
Contributions to Operation Round Up are tax deductible. For details, visit horryelectric.com or call us at 369-2211.
We hope you found 101 easy ways to save Don’t forget to look in the center of this magazine if you want to find the 101 Low-Cost/No-Cost Home Energy-Saving Measures for South Carolina booklet featured by Pat Howle, executive vice president and CEO, in his column this month. Instead of getting burned this summer with high energy bills, you can put the tips in the booklet to work in your home or business today! Be sure to visit Touchstone Energy’s energy-saving website, TogetherWeSave.com, for even more money-saving ideas like these: ff Adjust
the thermostat. As TogetherWeSave.com demonstrates, raising the thermostat a few degrees can save you money. Set the temperature between 78–80 degrees Fahrenheit, and you could save up to 8 percent on monthly cooling bills. Programmable thermostats make it easy to save by offering pre-programmed settings to regulate a home’s temperature throughout the year.
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a “fan-atic”. While they don’t replace an air conditioner or a heat pump, fans move the air so everyone feels more comfortable. On milder days, fans can save as much as 60 percent in electric bills. Fans cool people, not rooms, so turn them off when you leave.
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Because we’re a Touchstone Energy Partner, we believe it’s only right that we should work for positive change within the communities we serve.
Energy
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The bills of participating co-op consumers are rounded to the next-highest dollar each month. The extra cents we collect from each participant goes into the Operation Round Up fund. The average amount contributed by each person in a year is about $6.
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Through Operation Round Up, members of Horry Electric Cooperative have the unique opportunity to participate in an innovative program that provides funding for all kinds of worthy projects here in Horry County.
air,” says Blackburn. “In fact, it’s a good idea to unplug all of your major appliances during a power outage to prevent damage from a power surge when the lights come back on,” he recommends. So, what happens if you can’t resist the temptation to check on those butterbeans? “Every time you open the door, you let a little of the freshness-retaining cold air escape,” says Blackburn. “Checking on the things you’re so worried about could end up spoiling them.”
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Small change changes lives
FOUL WEATHER IS typical this time of year. Frequently, that means power outages. Depending on the severity of the damage, the power could be out for a while. What about all the butterbeans, corn and okra you worked so hard to put up just last month? “Never fear,” says Eddy Blackburn, marketing analyst for Horry Electric. “A full freezer can keep food cold for at least 24 hours if the door stays closed.” A half-full freezer will keep food cold from 12 to 24 hours if the door stays closed. Twenty-five pounds of dry ice placed in a 10-cubic-foot freezer will keep foods below freezing for several days. “You can even unplug your refrigerator when the electricity goes out without speeding the loss of cold
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maintenance is essential. Horry Electric recommends that members have their HVAC systems serviced annually by a NATE (North American Technician Excellence)certified technician. This HVAC professional will check the entire system to make sure it is running efficiently. This will help to extend the life of the system and save money.
A link to TogetherWeSave.com is provided on horryelectric.com, where you’ll find even more information about energy and your electric cooperative.
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