My article last month centered on Indiana’s utility disconnect moratorium and Tipmont’s commitment to help those of you who are struggling with unemployment, reduced hours, or furloughs from the COVID-19 pandemic. The moratorium expiration date was extended to Aug. 14 after the July Indiana Connection deadline and may be extended further if COVID-19 cases continue to increase. 

Last month, I shared that our board of directors decided to postpone the 2020 Annual Meeting, originally scheduled for Saturday, July 25. We’re all hoping that the pandemic continues to ebb, but the safety of each member we serve will always be our primary consideration.

Our Annual Meeting is an event I always look forward to. As you may know, its primary purpose is to elect the board of directors that governs our cooperative. But we also use the opportunity to celebrate the membership that makes Tipmont possible. It’s a privilege to visit with so many of you each year and listen to your feedback on how we’re doing.

I wrote last month about how our delivery of critical infrastructure makes our responsibility more important now than ever. Cooperatives routinely plan for emergency situations, and our emergency plan has served us well in a variety of circumstances — from ice storms to tornadoes. In these unprecedented times, we’ve taken some additional unprecedented steps to make sure our team is in place to power your world.

As I write this, we're in unprecedented and uncertain times. The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has affected so many of our longstanding institutions and disrupted daily life for all of us. In the case of Tipmont and Wintek, our delivery of critical infrastructure makes our responsibility to the communities we serve more important now than ever.

It’s always interesting to look back and compare our reliability data from year to year. In 2019, our top outage causes were power supply, trees and equipment failure, which is consistent with every other year going all the way back to 2012. Of those three, power supply (also known as transmission) comprised over 51% of total member minutes out.

Effective Jan. 22, Tipmont’s energy charge will increase from $0.1034 per kWh to $0.1054 per kWh and the service charge will increase from $32.50 per month to $34.50 per month. For the average residential consumer, this equals about $4.75 per month

The young lady featured on the cover of this month’s magazine was selected for Tipmont’s Youth Tour delegation last summer. The photo was taken at the Newseum, an exhibit that promotes the importance of a free press and the First Amendment. The balcony on the seventh floor looks right down Pennsylvania Avenue at the U.S. Capitol. It’s just one awe-inspiring sight in a week of life-altering experiences that Tipmont is proud to sponsor each year.

Electric vehicles (EVs) have a long and complicated history. The first electric car debuted in the U.S. around 1890. It was a six-passenger vehicle with a top speed of about 14 miles per hour. By the early 20th century, many taxis in New York City were electric. But the high cost of production compared to gasoline-powered cars combined with a lack of electricity outside the cities was too much to overcome. By the mid- 1930s, electric vehicles had mostly vanished.

We recently received a heartwarming note via our Facebook page:

“I’m not sure who the gentleman was at McDonald’s, but the side of his truck said Tipmont REMC. He helped me and my daughter and I'd just like to say it really made our day. My daughter started crying and said there are still people out there that care.”