Plumas-Sierra Rural Electric Cooperative > Manager's Message > Manager’s Message — February 2020

Manager’s Message — February 2020

Dear Members:

As this gets to you in the heart of winter, there is still the possibility for major storms. A key way for all of us to get power back in the event of an outage is to conserve power, when possible, during storms. The lower the load on the system, the easier it is to restore power. Should rotating blackouts be required, we will work to provide members time to cook, bathe and do laundry. If everyone keeps their use to a minimum during a rolling blackout, we can supply more members with power. When we were on limited supplies for three straight weeks due to the Camp Fire, we were able to keep the lights on to virtually all of our members because many of you reduced your use.

PSREC has a new system for outage notifications. It lets us get more granular with outages, getting down to neighborhoods, instead of just broad regions. These notifications are provided via email and text messages. To sign up for these notices, sign into SmartHub at www.psrec.coop, and visit the Manage Notifications section to select the alerts you would like to receive. If you need assistance, please give us a call at (530)832-4261.

Community Solar

The PSREC Community Solar Program is still offering 100-kilowatt-hours-a-month blocks to members who want to use solar. PSREC offers members the choice of a monthly adder to their existing rate or a one-time upfront fee to participate in the Community Solar Program.

Buying solar power from PSREC’s Community Solar Program is a great option for members who may not want to make the large upfront investment in a solar system, are renting, or live in an area with shading where a solar system would not produce optimal energy output. Community solar is a great, maintenance-free way to use renewable power without solar panels on your roof. We are working on a short-term payment plan that will make it easier to go solar. For more information, or to sign up for the PSREC Community Solar Program, please call us at (530)832-4261 or visit www.psrec.coop.

Telecommunications

It’s been an exciting time for our telecommunications business. We are working to get fiber optics to the premise for both Sierraville and Calpine, and we have also expanded service on Chandler Road and its offshoots. Additional wireless access points are planned in Sierraville and Milford. Upgrades are also being performed in other locations across our system.

We are pleased to report the main part of Quincy south of Highway 70 now has fiber to the home, offering download speeds up to 1 gigabyte per second.

Perhaps the most exciting news is that Plumas-Sierra Telecommunications has received grants from the California Public Utilities Commission’s California Advanced Services Fund to bring service to hard-to-reach areas on our system and in the community. One key area receiving grant funding is Lake Davis.

We have quite a bit of work underway. PST is expanding broadband services throughout the region with unlimited data, net neutrality and download speeds of up to 1 gigabyte per second on our fiber-optic network.

For more information, or to sign up for service, please call us at (530) 832-4126 or view services on the PST website.