March 24, 2010
Youth Tour Winners Named for 2010
Bridget
McConnell of Electra High School and Dillon
Walker of Navajo
High School have been
named winners of Southwest Rural Electric Association’s 2010 Youth Tour
Contest.
As
Youth Tour winners, McConnell and Walker will receive all-expense-paid trips to
Washington, D.C. this summer with delegations of other
co-op students from their respective states.
Bridget
is the daughter of Kim and Ernie McConnell of Electra, Texas.
Dillon
is the son of Tony Reed and Nicole Walker-Reed of Altus, Oklahoma.
During
their trip to Washington, D.C.,
the two Texoma youth will visit the U.S. Capitol, the White House, the capital
city’s many memorials and museums, and Arlington National
Cemetery. They will also
have the opportunity to visit with numerous elected officials.
Runners-up
in the contest are Kirbi Brooking, Tipton
High School, and Taarna Farley, Northside High School.
Brennen is the daughter of Keith and Shasta Brooking of Tipton, Oklahoma.
Taarna is the daughter of Erica Peterson of Vernon, Texas.
As
runners-up, Kirbi and Taarna will have the opportunity to represent SWRE at the
2011 high school Touchstone Leadership Summit to be held next January in Oklahoma City.
Other
2010 contest finalists are Mari Adams, Vernon
High School; Colby
George, Blair High School; Zach McSpadden, Vernon
High School; and Kristen Rector, Frederick High School.
All
finalists received certificates and cash prizes.
The
SWRE Youth Tour Contest is open each year to all 11th grade students who live
or attend school in the SWRE service area.
Students
were required to write a 500-750-word essay on the topic “Conserving Energy
Today – Preparing for the Future.”
The
annual SWRE Youth Tour Essay Contest for high school juniors is an annual
tradition that began in 1964.
More than 100 essays were received this year,
exploring many conservation practices and technologies.
Essays
were evaluated to determine eight finalists – four from Oklahoma
and four from Texas
schools. The eight finalists were invited to a March 23 event at SWRE
headquarters in Tipton to present their essays as extemporaneous speeches for a
panel of judges who determined the contest winners.
Southwest
Rural Electric Cooperative is a non-profit member-owned electric utility that
serves a 6,000 square mile area in 11 counties of north Texas
and southwest Oklahoma.
It was organized in 1937, and maintains its headquarters in Tipton, Oklahoma.
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Online
Bill Pay is Available at SWRE
To
set up online payments, SWRE members need to complete the following steps:
1. Provide a current e-mail address and
telephone number to SWRE for posting to the co-op’s records for your
account(s). This can be done by sending
an e-mail with your name, account number(s), telephone and e-mail address to swre@swre.com, or by calling the co-op at 1-800-256-7973
to provide the info to Jonnie Partida or Chris Petty. This correct information
must be entered into SWRE’s records before online registration can proceed.
2. Go to SWRE’s website: www.swre.com. Click
“On Line Bill Pay” at the lower center of the page. This will
open a new screen. Choose “New User”
3.
Enter the
following information:
· Account Number
· Last four digits of telephone number
· User ID (you create)
· Name
· Password (you create)
· Password confirmation
· Password hint (which you create for your future use,
if needed)
Hit
“Submit”.
4. When the information has been received, a
computer confirmation e-mail will automatically be sent to the e-mail address
that you have provided. In that e-mail there will be an “Activate Account”
link. Click “Activate Account”.
5. This will take you to the screen where you
can pay on-line with a credit card or bank withdrawal. NOTE: If it does not
take you to the bill pay screen, call the SWRE business office at
1-800-256-7973.
Once
your online payment account is set up, you can go to www.swre.com to pay
your SWRE bills with one easy click.
The
process is easy and secure.
Of
course, for SWRE members who choose to pay their bills in the conventional way,
the co-op will continue to accept payments through the mail, at the Tipton
office, or at traditional bank locations throughout our service area.
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Major Outage Info is Posted to SWRE Website
In periods of extended power outages, co-op members can check outage status at the SWRE web site: www.swre.com.
During major outages, an information message is posted at
the site's front page giving extent and areas of outage, along with
current status of repairs. The message is updated regularly until the
outage emergency has passed, along with date and time of the update.
Although members whose power is off obviously cannot use
their computers, most have friends or family who can check the site for
them, or they will be able to log-on to the site from their work
locations.
The updates are not present at the SWRE site during
day-to-day operations of the co-op, but are maintained only during
major power outages.
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Co-op Connections offers
Prescription Benefit
Co-op Connections cards can be used for discounts with
participating
area and national businesses. A new pharmacy discount makes Co-op
Connections better than ever! The pharmacy benefit will allow
co-op members to save as much as 10%-60% on many prescriptions at more
than 48,000 independent and chain pharmacies.
With soaring prescription prices, the
new discount pharmacy program will work for your family and you.
The pharmacy discount program IS NOT insurance and cannot be used in conjuction with insurance. For co-op members that do not have insurance that includes prescription benefits, though, it will offer significant savings.
Once you have signed the back of the new card, it may be
used at participating pharmacies locally and nationwide. This is NOT a credit or debit card.
Search for Participating Pharmacies and Check Prices
To find out which pharmacies are participating and to look up the
discount prescription price, co-op members can visit www.rxpricequotes.com or call 800-800-7616 toll free.
This is just one more way you win from being a cooperative
member. Simply present your Co-op Connections card at a
participating pharmacy with your prescription and receive a discount at
the time of purchase.
SWRE is proud to be a member of Touchstone Energy Cooperatives, which
is a national alliance of local, consumer-owned electric cooperatives
that provide high standards of service to customers large and
small. More than 640 Touchstone Energy Cooperatives in 46 states
are delivering energy and energy solutions to approximately 22
million customers every day. Touchstone Energy Cooperatives serve
their members with integrity, accountability, innovation and
longstanding commitment to communities.
More than 9,500 discount deals available to co-op members just by using
the Connections Card. To check out the other great discounts you
can receive with your Connections Card go to the SWRE home page at:
www.swre.com. A link from the SWRE site will allow you to search for
deals in your city or area.
This is just one more way that Southwest Rural Electric and Touchstone Energy are looking out for you!
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Weather Tool
The application is a Touchstone Energy feature that is being used
by most Oklahoma co-ops.
When folks download the application, it
will ask them to designate their co-op (SWRE) from a list of all
Oklahoma co-ops. After they have done that, it will ask them
to choose their school district from a list of schools in the
SWRE area.
Download Link:
Once the application is loaded, it will sit on their
desktop and will show temperature and weather information. They
can click it to see radar and weather forecasts. They can also
click it to get news from the NewsOK site.
When there are weather alerts, messages will scroll
across the bottom of the screen.
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Copper Theft
is Growing Problem
The escalating value of copper
is resulting in costly problems and potential outages for utility
companies and can even lead to the death or injury of the thieves
themselves. Western Farmers Electric Cooperative (WFEC), headquartered
in Anadarko, Okla., like the state’s other electric utilities,
is experiencing problems due to rising copper thefts.
Since June 1 of this year, 30 of WFEC’s substation and switch
station facilities have experienced vandalism and thefts. Of this
number, 20 have been copper thefts, while 10 have been acts of
related vandalism. The monetary figures to date for these crimes,
including both losses of materials, as well as additional labor
costs to make repairs, have reached between $30,000 and $40,000,
according to Bobby Barrow, manager, transmission and distribution
services.
WFEC, along with other utilities, is apprehensive about these
great monetary losses for supplies and labor, as the additional
replacement costs are typically passed on to the company’s
consumers. In the end, utility customers are paying for these
needless criminal acts. Also, these same customers are the ones
affected by the possible outages.
Some thieves are so intent
on getting copper they have risked injury and death when trying
to strip the metal from live electrical components in substations
or on transmission lines. Thieves and vandals are entering energized
substations without the proper equipment and are taking their
lives into their own hands by attempting to gather the copper
from the facility and even from under ground. Any contact with
equipment inside a substation or an electric power line is extremely
dangerous given the very high voltages present in any such facilities.
Nationwide, numerous deaths
have occurred this year related to copper thefts from electric
utility facilities. Other theft attempts across the nation have
caused power interruptions and thousands of dollars of damage.
Outages are certainly not a welcomed experience by those in the
affected areas.
Copper is used for the grounding
of equipment within electrical substations and along electric
power lines. It serves as a protection for the crews working on
equipment within an energized substation. Without the copper,
crews would not be able to work at a substation facility without
halting the flow of power, which in turn would lead to maintenance
outages.
Even though WFECT has experienced
great losses of both time and equipment, the primary concern is
safety. “Our primary interest lies within our concern for
the lives of these thieves,” explains Ron Cunningham, WFEC
treasurer and financial risk officer and general manager, transmission
and distribution services.
“These thefts are a nuisance to customers, are expensive
for WFEC and can be deadly to the thieves,” comments Cunningham.
The majority of WFEC’s
incidents hav been fairly statewide in nature. The Norman and
Moore areas, as well as areas in southeasten Oklahoma, have been
among the hardest hit.
Residents are encouraged
to contact their local law enforcement officials if they see suspicious
activity around WFEC’s transmission lines and substations.
WFEC officials are working closely with area law enforcement agencies
in an effort to stop these thefts and acts of vandalism.
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