Dirk:	Good evening and welcome to Blue Ridge Energy's telephone town hall for members. We're glad you joined us and I hope you find tonight's call informative. My name is Dirk and I'll be moderating tonight's call. In a moment I'll turn the call over to Blue Ridge Energy's CEO Doug Johnson, who has some important updates about your cooperative. 
Dirk:	But first I would like to explain the format for tonight's call. If you would like to ask a question during our Q and A session just press star three on your phone and you'll be connected with a staff person. If you prefer not to speak live on the call, you'll have the opportunity at the end of tonight's event to leave your question, along with your name, and telephone number or email address. So that we can contact you soon with an answer. 
Dirk:	Now we'd like to get to as many questions tonight as possible in the time available, so we ask participants to limit their questions to one each. Again press star 3 on your phone at any time during the call if you would like to get in queue to ask a question. And remember you can always reach Blue Ridge Energy by phone, district offices, email, social media, or the website at blueridgeenergy.com. And now before we take questions it's time for a brief update about your cooperative. At this time I'll turn the call over to Blue Ridge Energy CEO Doug Johnson.
Doug:	Thank you Dirk and thank you members for joining us tonight, and welcome to this telephone town hall. I do have a handful of items that I would like to share, some information with you this evening.
Doug:	The first one is we've started work on one of the largest system improvement projects in Blue Ridge's history. We've started construction on a transmission line project from Horse Gap in Ashe County to Rutherwood in Watauga County to increase the capacity of that line to a 230kb line. We're well underway with this project, but we'll be winding down here for winter weather here in the next two or three weeks. But overall this transmission line will consist of seventeen miles of 230kb line and will have a cost of about 25 million dollars. We'll finish that line out over the next two to three years all the way over to Watauga County as I said, in the Rutherwood community.
Doug:	There we have a substation site on 421 where we'll construct a 230kb substation to bring the power into Watauga County. The cost of the substation is about 15 million. So overall, the cost of this project is about 40 million dollars and will occur over the next four years, maybe even five depending on the construction timeline. So I wanted to make you aware of this because it is a very, very big project for us and Watauga County is our largest membership area, and we do have a lot of members to serve in that area, and a lot of growth that's occurred in Watauga County. 
Doug:	The good news is this line is replacing an older line into Watauga County that was built over 50 years ago, that needs to be replaced and upgraded. So it's a part of our ability to provide top service to our members today, and well into the future. 
Doug:	I also talked about in our April telephone town hall that we will not have an increase in rates this year, which marks five consecutive years since we last increased rates, back in 2013. However, I wanted to make you aware as early as possible, that our financial forecasts are indicating the need for a 3 percent increase next October, in October of 2019. We will complete a very thorough cost of service study early next year and into the early summer, and make a more formal announcement in August of what this rate increase will be, and share with you as members how it will impact you.
Doug:	I also wanted to give you a brief update on Community Solar, we've had a lot of member interest in this particular program. Today we have about 160 members on a wait list, since we have already prescribed or subscribed all of our four Community Solar projects. The fifth Community Solar project planning is well underway, we're finalizing a lease agreement with the land owner in Caldwell County, we're getting ready to submit conditional use permits to the Caldwell County planning board. From there it will go to the Caldwell County commission for approval, and we hope to start site development in the first quarter, and hopefully have this available to our members by April of 2019. So, you'll be hearing more information on this and the opportunity to subscribe to an additional panel, or for those members that missed the first four, be able to receive the solar energy that you want to receive through our Community Solar program. 
Doug:	I also wanted to make you aware that recent changes to our bylaws at Blue Ridge are going to be mailed to you in a poly bag, with the December Carolina Country, which we'll mail out to you on November 23rd. The new copy that you will get will just be a new black line copy of the new bylaws, but I wanted to make you aware that if you want to look at a red lined copy of the bylaws, which will show you, all the items that were changed and added, you'll be able to find that on our website. 
Doug:	I will say the most significant change was we did a very thorough study on looking at our language, to make sure that it better reflects the currents IRS policies concerning members as patrons of the cooperative and how we manage the patrons capitol process at Blue Ridge. Many of you know that more as Capital Credits. So that was the biggest item that was changed in the bylaws, but certainly want to make you aware of that, that the board did approve that at their last board meeting. 
Doug:	Finally, I want to give an update on the construction of our new corporate office in Lenoir. After a lot of studying and determining that our current office, which is over 50 years old and is about 30 thousand square feet, could not efficiently be renovated, we decided to build a new office facility. This 45 thousand square foot office should be completed by the spring of 2020, at a total cost of about 15 million dollars. I'm happy to tell you there'll be no debt in building this building. We'll be able to pay for it as we go, and we do not expect the building to have an impact on your rates. 
Doug:	The corporate office headquarters provides space for our growing electric business, of about 75 thousand members, our propane and fuels operations serving over 28 thousand customers, and our rapidly growing telecommunications subsidiary RidgeLink. The building also houses all of our accounting, engineering, operations, member services, human resources, and IT employees, plus our system contact center and 24 seven operators dispatch center. 
Doug:	So, I want to thank you again for the opportunity that we have to serve your energy needs, as your cooperative. I want to thank you for your interest in and support of Blue Ridge. Now I want to turn this back over to Dirk, and ask Dirk to assist me with the question and answer time.
Dirk:	Mr. Johnson, thank you very much for that very valuable information. And a quick reminder to everyone on the call, if you have a question you would like to ask in tonight's event please press star 3 on your phone at any time, and you will be set into the queue to ask your question.
Dirk:	So we start off tonight with Weston, in Boone, and he wants to talk about solar energy and the charges from Blue Ridge. Weston go ahead, you are live.
Weston:	Alright thank you, yes, I'm calling just to have a better understanding as to why solar residents are charged a 53-dollar fee monthly, as compared to much of the energy providers around the state. Blue Ridge Energy is one, they only have a monthly fee of about 13, 14 dollars a month. So I'm curious as to why, the disproportionate monthly fee is for members of Blue Ridge Energy.
Doug:	Okay Weston thanks for your question. For us it's a matter of fairness, we have about 160 people that are either on net billing or net metering with the cooperative, that have renewable energy on their home. 
Doug:	The 53 dollars covers the cost of using our wires. You're staying connected to the grid, and you're also putting excess generation that you do with your renewables back onto our grid, and asking us to buy that power from you, and moving it across our power lines. We believe that it's not fair for members who do not participate in renewable energy, or those who cannot participate to subsidize the cost of the wires to our solar or renewable energy members. 
Doug:	So, for that reason, we looked at a cost of service, and if you go on a net metering rate, which you sell your power back to us when you generate excess, and you're putting it across our system. It's a fair cost that makes sure that there's not cross subsidy to renewable energy. 
Doug:	Thanks Weston.
Dirk:	Alright We're going to move on to George in Boiling Rock, and he was wondering what the point of the 40-million-dollar line is. George you're live with Doug.
Doug:	Okay George, thank you for your question. The reason for the line is twofold, one is to make sure that we have adequate capacity to serve mountain counties, I'm sorry I jumped the gun there. Excuse me Dirk, I didn't give George a chance to ask his question.
Dirk:	I apologize when you began answering sir, I went ahead and muted the caller, but that was the question about the 40-million-dollar line that I'm sure a lot of people are wondering about. 
Doug:	Okay, and George I apologize that I spoke over you there. The 40-million-dollar line is twofold reasons here. One is our capacity growth to serve the mountains, we look at what it's going to take to serve this are and provide adequate, resilient and reliable power to the area, we knew that an upgrade was going to be needed in the capacity that we bring into the mountains. We also knew that the line that's there now, that we're replacing is over 50 years old, and is simply worn out, and it needs to be replaced. So we're doing that as much as we have to do it, and we need to do it, are the two compelling factors that we need to get this line in place. And of course we will depreciate that line over a 30 year or 33 year period of time, so it's spread out over several years of members.
Dirk:	Thank you very much for that insightful answer Doug. Now we're going to Mike in Ash, who wants to know more about the RidgeLink. Mike.
Mike:	Yeah, you mentioned earlier about RidgeLink and it's the first I'd ever heard of it. So I was hoping maybe you could tell us what it is and some details, elaborate on it a bit.
Doug:	Sure, sure Mike, thanks for your question. So, we started RidgeLink, several years ago when we first started putting fiber optic cable into our system, pretty much to be able to operate the electric system more effectively. To operate some of the smart communications technologies that we have in our substation, and our switches. And so, we had excess fiber optics on our hands, just to operate the electric system and we found out that there was a good market for leasing fiber to other people, that do internet service provision, or even leasing fiber to wireless telephone companies, and working with them on cell antennas on our poles. 
Doug:	And so, we started a telecommunications company, and began working really with people all across our system, and now we've grown outside of our traditional footprint and we're all the way over into Tennessee and to the edge of Virginia with our fiber bills. And, the reason that we've gone out of the service is because it's a good business model for us, and we're able to earn, they earn money, that helps us to keep rates lower for our members.
Dirk:	Again another fantastic answer Doug. Now I apologize I have George back on the screen and we're really quickly going to jump back to him, just to confirm that we did get a chance to answer Georges question about the 40 million dollar line. George do you hear me sir?
George:	Yeah, 
Dirk:	I apologize I hit the button pretty quickly to allow Doug to answer but when Doug did answer, did you feel you had adequate information on this 40-million-dollar line, you're questioning?
George:	Um, sort of. You had said that the line was like 50 to 60 years old already, do you think that this 40 million dollars would be effective, are you using any type of different wire that's going to last a little bit longer, or is this 40 million going to be effective over the amount of years, I assume another 60 years the lines that are good.
Doug:	George I apologize I spoke over you a minute ago. The lines and wires that we are using, our engineers have specifications, and when they get into that 50-year time frame, we're going to be watching and looking for maintenance, and those sorts of things. You don't want to wait until the line is no longer able to carry the load, or it starts to burn down, or not be reliable, or resilient. And we do have very significant weather events in the mountains. High winds, winter winds, icing, and snow that our engineers have to calculate for in terms of the wires ability to withstand that over long periods of time.
Dirk:	Alright thank you very much for that Mr. Johnson. Now we're going out to Lori in Fleetwood, and she wants to talk about some power lines and some dead tree limbs. Lori, is that your question for Doug?
Lori:	Yes, I had contacted Joe Gilly of the Blue Ridge Energy office in Ashe County and he referred me to Zach Menfield of the Blue Ridge Energy in Watauga County. He said that he was in charge of dealing with tree problems, and our lines come from Watauga County here. 
Lori:	So, my question is, I have two trees that I was calling about, to begin with that are on my property, that are dead. The whole tree is dead, and we tried to get Blue Ridge Energy to come out and cut them down. The people that we hired to cut two other trees down on our property said they could not cut those two, that we were talking about because they were right next to the power line. 
Lori:	When we called, we thought we would get at least a call back, but there's not been anybody out here to cut those trees down, and there wasn't even a return call. There's also some trees on our neighbors property across the road, just up above our driveway, that are about to come down on the power lines, and they are dead also.
Dirk:	Ms. Lori, that is a fantastic question and concern to have especially with all the recent storms. So, if I could condense the question down. Mr. Johnson how do you all deal with tree limbs, and dead branches in and around.
Lori:	These are entirely.
Doug:	Okay, Lori thank you for your question. First I want to apologize that you feel that we have not followed up with you as you had expected. We have very high standards for that, so I assure you that we will be calling you.
Doug:	We have very high standards for that, so I assure you that we will be calling you tomorrow to schedule a time to come out and look at the trees with you. We do have programs in place where we do want to get dead trees out of our right of way, and so I'm sure that our operational people will be in touch with you tomorrow and set a time to be with you as soon as it's possible, as soon as its mutually convenient. So thank you Arie and I apologize again. 
Dirk:	Alright so we're moving on to Andrew in Boone, and wants to talk about infrastructure and turbines. Andrew you're live, go ahead. 
Andrew:	Yeah so I was just asking with the aging infrastructure with the power grid, and of course with the million dollar projects that we have going on, why are we not focusing more on doing underground lines and updating the infrastructure? And why not focus more on doing more wind turbines, especially for this area? 
Doug:	Thanks Andrew, I appreciate your question, and it's something that we are asked quite often. The simple straight answer is it costs about four times the amount of money to underground lines than it does to build them overhead, and for large transmission lines it can be even more than that because you have to put it in conduit, and then the maintenance on it is quite difficult as well. So it's just an affordability factor to put lines underground. If we were spending 25 million overhead you could expect that to probably be three or four times that amount to underground it. 
Dirk:	So right now is a great opportunity to remind everyone on the call, if you have a question for CEO Doug Johnson, now is the perfect time press star three on your phone and you'll then be entered into the queue to ask a question. So we're going out to William in Boone, and he wants to talk about money spent on buildings in the past few years and how you all plan to pay for this $40 million electric upgrade. So William, have I consolidated your question correctly or do you have something further? 
William:	No that's pretty well it. I've noticed it, there are been several new buildings built around in the area up there, and I was just wondering how much has been spent including that's going to be on this $15 million corporate building, and it was stated it was going to be built without any debt, you had the money to do it, and is the new $40 million that's going to spent on the electrical upgrade, how is it going to be paid for? Do we have money to do that? 
Doug:	Okay William thank you for your question, that's a very good question. Typically on our electric plant upgrades we operate on an overall average of about 40 to 42% member equity and about 60% debt, 58 to 60% debt. So we will be using long term debt to help finance the cost of the construction of the line facilities along with other line facilities and improvements that we'll need to be making over the next few years. We do model this to make sure that our debt to equity ratios produce the most favorable rates for our members. As far as the new office buildings we have completed an upgrade to our district operational centers, and now last to our corporate office which will complete our needs for any kind of major construction investment for buildings for probably another 40 years or more. So occasionally companies do have to upgrade their facilities. We've grown a lot over the last 15 to 20 years, we've expanded into subsidiaries, we share these spaces with three companies, the eclectic utility, the propane and fuels, and the ridge link operation, and the ridge link and propane and fuels help pay for our buildings because they lease space from us. So that helps to offset some of the impact on our members. 
Dirk:	So we're going out to Blowing Rock next. Barry has a question, and wants to talk about notification for a power outage. Is that correct Barry? 
Barry:	Correct. 
Dirk:	Okay. So you're talking about perhaps outgoing texts or emails? Go ahead and ask the question. 
Barry:	Exactly. Yes I'm just looking to know that if there is a power outage in the area, is there any way that Blue Ridge notifies a customer either by text or by email, say that they weren't home at their residence that they'd know there is a power outage and if they needed to do something, or something of that nature? 
Doug:	At this point we don't send a text to a member to say the power is out at your residence. We do have an outage map that's available to be put on your phone through our website where you can see if there's an outage in a particular area, and you can see if there's a truck there, and how long we estimate the time to repair. As we look further on out into the future and as we look at the next generation of automated metering, we'll better be able to have two way communication where the home can tell us it's out. The system that we have now is nearly 10 years old, our automated system, and we don't have the capability real-time instantaneously to send a text out to you and say we know your power's out and just want to make you aware. We can get a period of time through our outage management system, and probably not as quickly as you're talking about Barry. So it's a good question, it's something we'll keep working on. 
Dirk:	So, we're now going to go out to Don in Jefferson, and I think if I read your question correctly Mr. Don that it's about how the power lines move across easements, or currently across mountains. Go ahead you're live with Mr. Johnson right now. 
Dawn:	Thank you both, and I am Dawn. D-A-W-N. Please do not feel embarrassed because that happens to me all the time and I am a senior citizen, sir, so do not feel badly. Mr. Johnson, I think this is a fabulous idea. I've never participated in it, I want to thank you both because I've learned so much in a very short period of time. Mr. Johnson I would like to ask you a serious question that I have. I am a realtor and I own my own company in Ash County and have been here 20 years. I have found that one of the complaints from many people who want to resettle here is the fact that the power lines run hither thither and yonder through our mountains and through our land. Do you foresee a time when like in other areas, the power lines instead of going from point A to point B which is the shortest point, they will actually follow easements so that it is more conducive to the look of the areas in the mountains? 
Doug:	Thank you Dawn for your question. A couple things I want to say is the power lines do follow easements. I'm not sure exactly what you mean there, but we have easements for every line that we have in place. Now, back to the reason why they don't always just go down the road or a route that may be more satisfying aesthetically, in the early days when we didn't have power in the mountains, when Blue Ridge was started back in late '30s and early '40s, the federal government loan program was called REA at that point. Today they're called the Royal Utilities Service. The original rules under the REA for stuff to build is to [inaudible 00:23:56]. You have to build the most efficient route because of the shortage of materials in World War II, and there was a shortage of money to do this, and the people in the mountains didn't have a lot of extra resources. So we've moved some of our lines out to the road so it's easier to maintain them, then we've relocated some for certain areas and for towns, but typically that's at the expense of the landowner. So that's something that we'll continue to have open dialogue with you about and see what kind of thoughts and ideas that you have, because we love this area too, and we're very proud of the beauty of our area, and certainly we'll be open to listening to thoughts and ideas of our members. 
Dirk:	Alright we're moving on to Jim in Boone, and Mr. Jim you have a thank you for us? 
Jim:	I do. Mr. Johnson, I just wanted to take a minute and say thank you. I've been a member of Blue Ridge Energy only a few years, but I've been working with Steve Woodring and his team in the Boone office for some safety and decorative lighting in our neighborhood, and just wanted to say thank you for the good job, for his team, and I figured this might be the right place. Start at the top and let it be known from there down. 
Doug:	Thank you Jim. I appreciate your compliment and I'll certainly pass that onto Steve Woodring. 
Dirk:	Alright. So next we've got Michelle in West Jefferson, talking about natural gas going in your area. Michelle you're live with Mr. Johnson. 
Michelle:	Hello. I'm just curious, what are the benefits of going gas, keeping propane wise and gas according to rates and how soon it will be coming up here on the bluff? [inaudible 00:25:44] be competitive. 
Doug:	Okay Michelle, yeah you know we aren't in the natural gas business. There's a company in the mountains in Ash county called Frontier, and they're responsible for the natural gas delivery, and natural gas tends to go where there's density in population, and propane tends to go to the more rural areas. So we don't have any real control over how far Frontier extends their system out into a more rural area, so because we're in the propane business we do provide propane out to homes that are less densely settled in our communities. But I don't know what Frontier's expansion plans are. I do know it's expensive because the gas lines are underground. 
Dirk:	Mr. Johnson thank you very much for that answer. Now another feature of tonight's call is polling. This is where you actually, you the participant have an opportunity to help Blue Ridge with some information. Now our first polling question is this the first time you've participated in a Blue Ridge Energy's telephone town hall? Or have you joined any of our earlier telephone town halls? Please press one if this is your first Blue Ridge Energy telephone town hall, or please press two if you've participated in at least one other Blue Ridge Energy telephone town hall. Again it's a polling question where you get to chime in with information. So I'll ask the question one more time. If this is the first time you've participated in Blue Ridge Energy's telephone town hall, or have you joined any of our earlier telephone town halls? Please press one if this is your first telephone town hall. Please press two if you've participated in at least one other telephone town hall. 
Dirk:	And now we're going to take it back to the questions, and we've got Randy in Caldwell, and he'd like to know about the location on the new Blue Ridge office. Is that correct Randy?
Randy:	Yes sir. 
Dirk:	So, Doug, what is the answer? 
Doug:	Okay Randy were you going to say a question? I'm not sure if I understand it. 
Randy:	I was asking where the new corporate offices are going to be that you mentioned earlier. 
Doug:	Okay Randy. We're actually under construction right now on the same site that our current corporate office building is. So if you come through Lenoir on 321 you'll see that the construction pad is being prepared now for building the building a little closer to 321. 
Dirk:	Alright, John in Ferguson, you have a question? Go ahead you're live with Mr. Johnson. 
John:	Hi how are you doing? I was curious you keep saying you have lack of funding when it comes to certain things. How do you guys come up with the money to build an $18 million corporate office, but can't lower rates for your members and keep it fluctuating throughout the summer and the winter? I've noticed rates go up and down. How do you manage to do those things? 
Doug:	Okay John, our rates are not fluctuating, so I'm not sure. Usage can fluctuate across the months, the kilowatt hour usage, but our rates have been consistently the same since 2013. The way that we pay for our buildings is through saving money, and setting aside a certain amount of money each year for things that we know are coming up in the future, it's called capital project planning. So we do that in a way that we have the adequate resources to provide the buildings and the operational space that our employees need to provide the service to our member owners and the customers that we save in propane and fuels, and the small rate increase that we're talking about for next year is primarily needed for the amount of investment that we're needing to make in our electric plant, the transmission and distribution facilities and substations that serve you. 
Dirk:	We're going to go back out to Blowing Rock, and we've got Phil. Phil you are live with your comment for Mr. Johnson. Go ahead. 
Bill:	Hi this is Bill, not Phil, but Mr. Johnson just wanted to say thank you so much for what you do. We are seasonal residents, and appreciate what you do, and if y'all ever could get the texting where we could find out when we have power outages since we're not there all the time, that would be a great thing to work on, but overall thank you for all you do. 
Doug:	Thank you Bill, and we know a lot of our seasonal members would love for us to have that technology, and it certainly is in our planning. 
Dirk:	So, Betty in West Jefferson, she's wondering about who you all went to for the $40 million, is that correct Betty? 
Betty:	Yes I was wondering who did the estimate for the cost of the 40 million. Who came up with the estimate for that? 
Doug:	Okay Betty our engineering staff here at Blue Ridge utilized engineering consultants, and we study these projects, and we estimate what we think the cost is going to be, and we began talking about these several years in advance, and then as we get closer to time that we know we need to construct, we try to fine tune the estimates. Then we go out for bids, and we ask large construction contractors to bid on our contract, build these facilities for us, the transmission lines, and then we also bid out the substation to large contractors so that we get the best bid price that we can to deliver the best value to us. 
Dirk:	So next up we've got Shelby in Vallis, and wants to talk about the linemen, is that correct Shelby? 
Shelby:	Yes and the equipment, the trucks. I wanted to talk about the gas side and the electric side. 
Doug:	Okay. 
Dirk:	So, what is your question Shelby? 
Shelby:	I wonder, in the wintertime-
Shelby:	I wonder in the wintertime when it's so bad and these trucks are out in all these storms, do they have four-wheel drives on those vehicles?
Doug:	Okay. Thanks, Shelby. We do have four-wheel drive on our electric line trucks and bucket trucks and many of our small buckets and pickup trucks. In our propane and fuels business, we do not use four-wheel drive because of the weight of the trucks and the safety of the drivers. In propane and fuel oil delivery trucks, we use some chaining mechanisms for the tires. We have in the budget and are getting ready to purchase a small four-wheel drive propane delivery truck that we can use in the mountains when we get such terrible weather and people are snowed in for emergency delivery, so we try to give our people the kind of equipment that they need to serve a pretty tough terrain and tough winter weather place.
Dirk:	So, we've got [Anne 00:33:05] ready in Blowing Rock and wants to know about turbines and sustainable energy sources. Anne, you are live with CEO Doug Johnson.
Anne:	Hey, I just wanted to follow up. I heard someone ask the question earlier about the wind turbines, and I didn't hear Mr. Johnson give an answer to that question, and I was just wondering about that as well and about any future plans to move towards more sustainable energy sources.
Doug:	Okay. Hey, Anne, thanks for your question. As far as the use of wind turbines, we do have some members that have installed some small-scale wind. It's not quite as cost-effective on a smaller scale as solar might be, but, you know, in order to get to the real high cost-effectiveness for wind, you'd need to move up into the very large utility scale. What we have done in terms of our sustainable plan is, you know, we're participating in North Carolina Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard, and we're now at 10% of our energy is being provided by renewables and energy efficiency. We're very actively involved in providing our community solar projects for those members who may not want to put solar on their roof but would like to have access to the energy from a solar panel, and, of course, we continue to be very active in energy efficiency programs with our members. 
Doug:	So, I think these kinds of programs and working together, we recently rolled out a program called Beat the Peak in which we are asking members to voluntarily get a text or an email to reduce usage in their home when we're having significant peak demands. We were very pleased. We've had over five thousand members agree to do this, and we're seeing some real results from that, so I think we just continue working together. We do see a very significant reduction in the use of fossil fuels, particularly coal, and as we look forward, we're seeing a pretty significant drop in the carbon footprint. So, thank you, Anne.
Dirk:	So, we've got Rob who lives above a substation with solar panels out in Vilas. Rob, you are live with CEO Doug Johnson. Go ahead with your question, sir.
Rob:	Hello, Doug.
Doug:	Hey, Rob, how are you?
Rob:	Hey. I'm fine. Good evening.
Doug:	Good evening.
Rob:	I've been in my house for about 32 years, and they rebuilt the transmission things on Rich Mountain behind me. We used to lose power quite often, but when [inaudible 00:35:35] rebuilt, I don't lose power ever. Anyway, I live above the substation here off of 421. You take that to Vanderpool, and they recently installed these solar panels, probably 50 or so. I don't know how many, but I'm curious. Is this experimental, or does this feed back into the grid. I mean, what's going on? It's in a farm pasture, but it's [crosstalk 00:36:12].
Doug:	I know we put one of our community solars over there, Rob. There's 372 panels in each community solar, and it's in your community out in Western Watauga, and that may be what you're talking about, and it does feed directly back into the grid, and it's on a large enough power line that we can put it back into our grid, and then we share that energy with the people who have subscribed to the panels. But technically, you know, power flows onto the grid, and we give you a credit for how much it produced at your home.
Dirk:	So next up, we're not Karen in Blowing Rock, and she wants to talk about herbicides that are being sprayed on the roadway. Karen, go ahead. You're live with the CEO, Doug Johnson.
Karen:	Yeah, I just had a concern. Recently, they came and sprayed under the power lines on our road, which is a private road. So, we had no notice. You know, didn't know the safety of pets, but the main concern is it actually killed a patch of milkweed which had Monarch butterflies and endangered species, so I'm just curious what your policy is, how often you spray, or can people opt out.
Doug:	Okay. Okay, Karen. Thanks for your question. You should have received a letter that we would be applying herbicide treatments after the right of way was cut, so what I'm going to do is have some of my operational people follow up with you and see where the communication didn't get through to you, and we do allow an opt-out if someone doesn't want it sprayed on their property. We are one of the few utilities that do that, but we'll actually flag your property and opt you out. It does have an impact on reliability, you know, if we don't manage the right of way and tree growth from root trees and things, but if it's something that you don't want, we'll work with you.
Dirk:	Thank you very much for that answer, Doug. Now, I'd like to ask another poll question of everyone on the call, and it is as follows: Which of the following member resources provided by Blue Ridge Energy do you find most helpful? Press one for Carolina Country Magazine. Press two for your member newsletter. Press three for your cooperative's website, that being blueridgeenergy.com. Or press four for your cooperative's social medial channels. So, again, which of the following member resources provided by Blue Ridge Energy do you find most helpful? You'll need to press one for Carolina Country magazine. Press two for your member newsletter. Press three for your cooperative's website, that being blueridgeenergy.com, and press four for your cooperative's social media channels. 
Dirk:	And now we're going to go back into the questions from people on the line with us, and we've got Phil in Banner Elk who wants to talk about rules and regulations. What is your question, Phil?
Phil:	Yes, good evening, and, number one, these guys do a great job up there. It’s amazing what the wind and how infrequently we do lose power, so [crosstalk 00:39:23].
Doug:	Thank you, Phil.
Phil:	Gotcha. Hey, just curious, if there is a tree in your yard and it's dead and it's going to fall on a power line, I know you can't cut down every tree out there, but whose responsibility is it? Is there a distance, say within 25 feet or something, or how do I approach that if there is a tree-
Doug:	Okay Yep. We actually have a program for dead trees outside of our right of way that if they fall, they're going to take our lines down, so what we need to do, we'll have your name after the call tonight. Our operations people in Watauga District will contact you, and we'll have someone come out and take a look at it and see what the situation is and take a look and see if it's something that we can remove to make sure that it doesn't fall on our lines, because proactively taking out dead trees can help us keep the lights on more, and that's one of the main jobs for us as your utility company, is to keep the lights on as much as we can.
Dirk:	All right. Now, we're going to go back out to Vilas where we've got Bob and wants to talk about power generation. Is that correct, Bob?
Bob:	That is correct. It's a curiosity question. Does Blue Ridge have any generation capacity or is all of the power purchased by way of contract from the major generators, and, if so, who are we purchasing power from, and generally how long are those contracts for, and how does that price out compared to the rest of the country?
Doug:	Okay. Great question, Bob. Blue Ridge does not own any generation capacity. We buy 100% of the power that all of our members need in a contract with Duke Energy Carolinas, and that contract runs until 2031. We watch our costs in that contract very closely, and we're very pleased to say that our average wholesale power cost is very competitive with all the wholesale power that we see in the Southeastern United States. We could take a bid process and go outside when that contract expires. We don't have to buy from Duke. We can bid with Southern Company or other interconnected utilities, but, so far, what we're finding is our experience with the overall Duke Energy fleet has produced favorable cost for us.
Dirk:	All right. We're going to go back out to Caldwell with Sandra, and, Sandra, you have a question about your light bill reading. Go ahead. You're live with Doug Johnson.
Sandra:	Well, I have had it around $400. I don't know if it's something wrong going on in my home or what it's all about, but they read the light bill after four weeks and about a half. It's like they're getting higher. Seems like you could pay it better if it's read about four weeks exactly or three-and-a-half weeks. I hope it don't get like Duke Power, and you can't pay it.
Doug:	Well, Sandra, what we want to do is we'll have your name from your call tonight, and I want one of our energy specialists to call you, and we can go over how much you're using and what appliances are probably causing your usage and give you some tips then on things you can do to manage your cost. And we've got some very well-trained people, and we'll be in touch with you soon to try to help you with that.
Dirk:	We've got Joe on the line from Caldwell, and, Joe, you've been a member for a while. Oops. Just lost Joe. He did have a question in regards to power lines near his house, so, Doug, I'm sure there's setbacks or-
Doug:	Well, yeah. I mean, there's electric safety codes and things on how close power lines can be to homes and that sort of thing, but we'll have Joe's name, and someone on the staff will reach out to him and talk to him about his question.
Dirk:	Okay. Very good. Right now, I'd like to thank everyone for participating in tonight's Telephone Town Hall for Members. Now, we're almost out of time, but we do want to hear from you, so if you have a comment or a question and you didn't get a chance to press Star Three to get into the queue, you can just stay on the line, and in just a moment, you'll have the chance to leave a voicemail for Blue Ridge Energy. If you include your name and telephone number or email address, a Blue Ridge Energy representative will return your call as soon as possible, so from me here, [Dirk 00:44:05], as your moderator, I'd like to thank everyone who's been on the call along with you, CEO Doug Johnson from Blue Ridge Energy, for all the time and insights that you've provided tonight.
Dirk:	So, if it's okay, actually I just was given a note since we've had tremendous response with the polling questions, we've got another one if you wouldn't mind participating in. Did you find tonight's call helpful? If so, please press one for yes and two for no. Again, did you find tonight's call helpful? Press one for yes. Press two for no. So, at this moment, I will wrap the call up officially. If you do have a question, just stay on the line, and you can leave a voicemail for Blue Ridge Energy. But thank you, everyone, for your time tonight and participating in this Telephone Town Hall from Blue Ridge Energy.