Dear Members:
Tom Hammond has been Plumas-Sierra Rural Electric Cooperative’s (PSREC) District 6 director since 1996. He has been the proprietor of the Mark on Highway 395 near Herlong for even longer and is a strong advocate for PSREC’s growth. Additionally, Tom served as a Lassen County supervisor from 2013 to 2023. Tom recently sold the Mark and is no longer a member of the cooperative, making him ineligible to continue as a director.
Tom will be dearly missed, and everyone at the cooperative appreciates all the time and energy he put into serving on our board and championing growth in the Herlong region— especially with Sierra Army Depot. Tom has been a strong advocate for PSREC’s new transmission line that will run from Herlong to the NV Energy 345kV Reno-Alturas transmission line. This project is about to start construction.
When a vacancy occurs on the board of directors, the remaining board members decide whether to appoint a successor or hold the position open until the next annual meeting. In addition, the board reviews the cooperative’s districts each year to ensure balance among members. I will share the board’s decision on district boundaries and the replacement schedule for the District 6 board seat in future issues of Ruralite.
Electric Industry Rates
The electric industry is going through many changes. Some neighboring investor-owned utilities have been significantly increasing their rates. Consumer-owned utilities, such as Plumas-Sierra REC, Lassen Municipal Utility District, and Truckee-Donner PUD, are still subject to most of the regulations and market conditions that affect our industry, but you can rest assured the governing bodies—our boards—are always advocating for member-owners. Your correspondence and critiques about the cooperative are shared with the board and staff at every board meeting.
Our neighboring consumer-owned utilities have all also announced rate increases, but more in line with inflation. PSREC is reviewing its own needs for rate increases across the next several years, and we are likely to need increases to cover rising costs. We expect our rates to remain well below those of the for-profit utilities around us.
We have never been satisfied standing still and accepting what the utility business in California has handed us. Over the decades, we have built our own generation, interconnected with the Nevada utility grid, and built our telecommunications subsidiary so it can share electric costs and bring needed services to the area. We continue to do so through efforts on the Fort Sage Project to build a new transmission line to interconnect with the 345 kV Reno-Alturas line out in the Nevada desert.
Plumas-Sierra Telecommunications (PST) is our wholly owned subsidiary. In addition to cost-sharing with the electric utility, PST’s goals include bringing needed telecommunications services to our region and encouraging economic development. The twin focus of our subsidiary is to expand to as many people in our area as possible while also increasing the speed of our packages. We are always interested in feedback from our members on the telecom side as well.
Legislative & Regulatory Actions
We work with fellow utilities as part of our trade association, Golden State Power Cooperative, the Northern California Power Agency and others in the industry on regulatory and legislative responses.
We are visiting Sacramento and Washington, D.C., in the coming months to advocate on the state and federal levels on behalf of you, our members.
Scholarships
Attending a college or university next fall? PSREC and Plumas-Sierra Telecommunications are offering 2- $1,000 scholarships. Applicants must be at least a senior in high school by the fall of 2025, with no upper age limit. All students (seniors in high school, college students, and graduate students) are encouraged to apply.
Students applying for scholarships must have at least a 2.5 GPA and be in good standing. An official transcript must accompany the application. Applications will be judged on the following: essay, 40%; school and community involvement, 40%; and scholastic achievements, 20%. All entrants must complete a typed or legibly written essay. The essay portion will be judged on creativity and content, with consideration given to grammar and spelling.
Applications can be obtained by calling the Plumas-Sierra office at (530) 832-4261 or (800) 555-2207. It can also be downloaded from our website. The deadline to apply is April 24.
Telecommunications
PST crews continue to build our fiber network and complete as many installations as the weather will allow. Crews have made significant progress throughout the past year, replacing coax network with fiber optic in areas of Portola as well as building out fiber in Loyalton Pines, Sierra Brooks, and throughout Doyle, Herlong, and Janesville. Fiber is ready in Quincy, Portola, and Loyalton, to name a few.
Our fiber optic service offers speeds of up to 1 gigabyte per second with unlimited data. For more information or to sign up for internet service, call (530) 832-4126 or visit the PST website.
Community Solar
The PSREC Community Solar Program offers blocks of 100 kilowatt-hours per month to members who want to use solar. The co-op gives members the choice of adding a monthly fee to their existing rate or paying a one-time upfront fee to participate in community solar.
The program is a great option for members who may not want to make a large upfront investment in a solar power system or who rent or live in an area where a solar power system would not produce optimal energy output. Community solar is a maintenance-free, cost-effective way to participate in renewable power without solar panels on your roof.
Additionally, PSREC is working with the California Energy Commission to allow our community solar program to satisfy Title 24 solar requirements for new construction. If you are preparing to build, contact us for more information.
To sign up for PSREC’s Community Solar Program, call (530) 832-4261.
Winter Preparedness
I would like to thank our line crews who worked tirelessly at all hours of the day and night, no matter the weather, during the recent storms to restore power as quickly as possible.
As this gets to you in the heart of winter, there is still the possibility of additional major storms. PSREC provides outage notifications via email, text, social media, and our website. To receive notifications, sign into SmartHub on our website and visit the “manage notifications” section to select the alerts you would like to receive. If you need assistance, call (530) 832-4261. We are here to help.
For more information on outage preparedness, visit our outage tips page. You can also view areas affected by outages on the power outage map page.
Sincerely,
Bob Marshall
General Manager