Manager’s Message – October 2019
PrintDear Members:
The 2019 PSREC Annual Member Meeting was a great event. Thanks to everyone who joined us for the evening. The Las Plumas 4-H Club served an excellent dinner of tri-tip sandwiches, pulled-pork sandwiches and veggie burgers, and one lucky member went home with a $500 credit toward their electric bill.
During the event, Plumas-Sierra Telecommunications highlighted its plans for broadband expansion in the region. If you were unable to attend the meeting, you can get information on our broadband services by visiting www.pst.coop.
One exciting project discussed was the Sierraville build. We have completed the fiber optic line between the Marble Substation (on A-23) and the Sierraville Substation and have also gained access to two additional distribution switches, allowing better control of our electric system.
The project includes fiber optic along our distribution line on Highway 89 north from Sierraville to Sattley and Holstrom’s Mill. Businesses and homes along, or near, the line can sign up for broadband service.
There are other parts of the southern valley that can see our Sierraville Substation, where we are installing a new access point for our advanced wireless system to provide broadband services to members with a clear line-of-sight to the access point.
The fiber optic line will continue north to Calpine, hopefully by year’s end.
We are expanding service in and around Chandler Road in the Quincy area, and will find out if we will be awarded grant funding in November to continue broadband expansion into the hardest-to-reach areas of our system.
Sonja Anderson of the Western Area Power Administration and Randy Howard of the Northern California Power Agency provided updates on the electric industry during the business meeting. They discussed key issues facing your cooperative and the electric utility industry as a whole. A key takeaway from the meeting was the need for the cooperative to stay active politically to protect the interests of our member-owners.
We had a lively question-and-answer session, covering both broadband expansion and the cooperative’s Wildfire Mitigation Plan.
The board of directors is the governing body for Plumas-Sierra REC and Plumas-Sierra Telecommunications. They set policy, strategic direction, rates, and budgets. They attend classes and work hard to understand the complexities of the electrical utility industry and the telecommunications business. We thank them all for their hard work and commitment to PSREC.
The membership re-elected Dick Short to District 2 and David Hansen to District 5.
Please let me know if you have any questions. You can contact me at 800-555-2207 ext. 6076, or email me at bmarshall@psrec.coop.
Sincerely,
Bob Marshall
General Manager
