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2022 SUSTAINABILITY REPORT
2022 has offered a few challenges as inflation, supply-chain issues and global events played out on the world stage. In that spirit, the year offered a new take on what “sustainable living” means to us and reinforced the idea that progress is not always taken in a direct upward trajectory. Sometimes, you have to take a few steps in another direction to truly see the changes, shifts and room for improvement. In this year's sustainability report you will notice how we pivoted to make plans for future accessibility, and to make sustainability a goal for today, tomorrow and for many years to come.
Driving Change
Our first annual Drive Electric event took place September 24, 2022. This event was held at CATS (Career Academy and Technical School) in Troutman, NC and offered an opportunity for members to learn more about driving electric and to test drive an EV, too! Over 200 people participated in the event! Additionally, we have maintained six EV chargers (four level two chargers and two fast chargers -- learn more about their difference here) and have plans to expand charging infrastructure in 2023!
Repairing Rather Than Replacing
Reducing Waste: Restoring/Rebuilding these devices extends their useful life and reduces waste. The result: We saved our members money, breathed new life into old assets, avoided the emissions footprint that comes with manufacturing new equipment, and skirted any potential costs and carbon footprint associated with supply chain issues.
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The Perks of Demand Response Programs
Did you know that heating and cooling costs accounted for about 34 percent of total U.S. energy usage for residential and commercial consumers in 2020? That's about 9.54 trillion kilowatt hours (kWh). The average EnergyUnited residential member uses about 1,200 kWh per month. When weather spikes and thermostats respond, the cost to deliver that energy goes up (think supply-demand). We rolled out our Demand Response programs Beat the Peak and Peak Time Perks, which help empower members to combat this. In 2022, we enrolled 660 new accounts and 892 thermostats, with over 2,400 thermostats and 1,700 accounts enrolled to date.
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Cool Benefits of Heat Pump Rebates
Thanks to money-saving incentives of up to $8,000, courtesy of the Inflation Reduction Act, heat pumps are an increasingly appealing way for people to heat and cool their homes. Despite the name, a heat pump can both heat and cool your home, taking the place of your furnace, air conditioner or both. Heat pumps don't directly burn fossil fuels, installing one reduces both your carbon emissions and your monthly bill. In 2022, EnergyUnited received 284 heat pump rebate requests and approved 239 of them. This amounted to 355,077 kWh of savings, or $61,500 worth in rebates.
Saving Paper
The drive to enlist all members in our paperless billing system has been several years in the making. And why? Making the switch to paperless billing is great for the environment, cost effective and convenient for members. As of December 2022, our cooperative had over 51,000 accounts enrolled in paperless billing. We save about $1 per member each month which adds up to about $612,000 in total yearly savings. Looking to make the switch? It's simple!
Sign up for My EnergyHub
My EnergyHub Savings
Access your account on our website or on our mobile app. My EnergyHub has multiple features that make managing your account as easy as possible. In addition, you can notify EnergyUnited of outages, get alerts and have access to other great features, right on your smartphone or computer. It truly puts the power in your hands to understand patterns in your energy usage and become a more empowered member. Join the over 60,000 members who already use (and dare we say love) this service.
Our 2022
ENERGY MIX
Does not include off-system sales.
Nuclear
Nuclear power reactors do not produce any carbon emissions, which offers an advantage over more traditional energy sources. Plus, nuclear energy is reliable and has the ability to produce energy nonstop.
Sustainable Communities
We are always investing in our communities and members, through scholarship opportunities, teacher grants or donations by the EnergyUnited Foundation. We care about the longevity of our communities and members. In 2022, nearly $400,000 was donated by the EnergyUnited Foundation to individuals, families, households and nonprofits. More than $45,000 was awarded to teachers across EnergyUnited’s service area through NC Bright Ideas. The cooperative also offered a unique opportunity for two students to participate in the Electric Cooperative Youth Tour program, which includes an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C. Plus, we awarded two $5,000 college scholarships through Empowering the Future, and three students were selected to attend Touchstone Energy Sports Camp at NC State University and UNC-Chapel Hill.
Youth Tour
Empowering the Future Scholarships
Touchstone Energy Sports Camp
EnergyUnited Foundation
The Long Game:
Securing a sustainable energy future
2022 presented several challenges on a global and local level. For starters, we all felt the impact of inflation and what that meant for our pocketbooks. Unfortunately, the energy industry was not immune to global price increases, and as many of you know, as an at-cost energy services provider, we really had no choice but to adjust our prices in 2022.
As a not-for-profit, member-owned cooperative our wholesale power costs represent approximately 70 cents for every dollar billed to our members. The remaining 30 cents represents the “facility charge,” which is a fixed charge that appears on your monthly bill. This way, members can see the true cost of energy. EnergyUnited does not mark up the cost of wholesale power to our members, it is essentially charged to our members as it is billed to us from our wholesale power providers. This allows EnergyUnited to partner with its members and help them minimize their energy consumption, which has no financial impact to the Cooperative. Another benefit of this partnership is that excess revenue is returned to the members at the end of the year in the forms of capital credits.
At EnergyUnited, we spend a lot of time and effort forecasting future load growth and energy prices that are incorporated into the cost of wholesale power. Overall the price of wholesale power increased approximately 25% on average in 2022, yet EnergyUnited was able to mitigate the impacts of this and maintain our energy rate decrease we implemented in January 2022 for the whole year helping many of our members during a very challenging time. We can honestly say that our forecasted projections clearly underestimated the cost of wholesale power in 2022.
So, what changed? The energy we provide to our members is generated by nuclear, solar, hydroelectric, some coal, but most of the electricity is fueled by natural gas. At the beginning of 2022 we projected that the average price of natural gas for the year would be approximately $4 a dekatherm, but the average price in 2022 was $6.45, an increase of over 60%! Overall, the price of wholesale power increased approximately 25% from our 2022 forecast.
EnergyUnited is constantly looking for opportunities to diversify our portfolio with alternative resources, such as other viable solar opportunities. We currently have a significant solar project underway that should be fully energized in early 2024 and we have several other viable solar opportunities. The price of solar energy has declined precipitously over the past decade, and EnergyUnited is making every opportunity to take advantage of this.
Building and rebuilding our way to a brighter energy future
As you know, the power grid that delivers reliable energy to homes, businesses, and communities across our 19-county service area contains many sophisticated components, such as transformers, reclosers and regulators. For EnergyUnited to maintain its 99.9 % reliability rating, these components must operate efficiently. However, the performance and reliability of these devices naturally decline over time. The question that cooperative leaders continually address as we observe this decline: should we repair or replace?
While replacing the device immediately may seem like the most expedient solution, it isn’t always the best solution. The decision to restore transformers, regulators, and reclosers can bring both environmental and operational benefits to the power grid, making it a more sustainable and an efficient strategy for system maintenance in many cases. EnergyUnited has maintenance shops that are capable of rebuilding this equipment but also works with local vendors when needed depending upon the volume of work we have to do.
Environmental Benefits
Repairing and restoring transformers, regulators, and reclosers can help reduce the environmental impact of the electric grid in several ways:
Reducing Waste - Restoring/Rebuilding these devices extends their useful life and reduces waste.
Resource Conservation - Repairing and restoring transformers, regulators, and reclosers can help conserve natural resources. By extending the useful life of these devices, fewer resources are needed to manufacture new equipment, resulting in less energy consumption and a reduced environmental impact.
Operational Benefits
In addition to the environmental benefits, repairing and restoring transformers, regulators, and reclosers can also provide operational benefits to the grid.
Improved Reliability - Over time, the insulation within these devices breaks down, which can impact service reliability.
Cost Savings - Repairing and restoring grid equipment is often a more cost-effective solution compared to the costs associated with retiring a device early in its life cycle and replacing it. The average cost to replace a recloser is $3,100 and the average cost to rebuild is $840. We rebuild about 150 reclosers each year. The price for a new regulator can vary greatly depending on the size, but range from $25,000 to $40,000 per regulator while the cost to rebuild is around $4,000 depending upon the condition. The number of these we do each year varies greatly depending upon the need.
By extending the useful life of these devices, EnergyUnited is reducing waste, conserving resources, and improving the reliability and efficiency of the grid.
Get to Know Your Co-opX
Last year, nearly 900 smart thermostats were enrolled in EnergyUnited's Peak Time Perks program. Members who enroll in this program receive a $50 bill credit after their first month in the program and an additional $20 bill credit for each year that they participate. The goal of the program is to leverage our network of members with smart thermostats to reduce our peak energy consumption during our wholesale power provider's (Southern Power) annual coincident peak. If successful in the long term, we can reduce the amount of energy reserve capacity the cooperative needs each year, which also helps us reduce our wholesale power costs.
Are you interested in joining our Peak Time Perks program? If you are an EnergyUnited member with a Nest, Ecobee, or Honeywell smart thermostat, you are eligible to register!
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