Manager’s Message – June 2018

Dear Members:

June is National Safety Month. Safety is a serious issue, especially when it comes to electrical safety. For Plumas-Sierra, it’s the No. 1 priority.

This is not empty talk. Over time, Plumas-Sierra has created a culture of safety by putting our employees’ safety and that of the community above all else. At its essence, Plumas-Sierra’s mission is to provide safe, affordable and reliable electricity to its member-owners. Equally important, we want to return our workers home safely to their loved ones. To do this requires ongoing focus, dedication and vigilance.

Working with electricity is an inherently dangerous job, especially for lineworkers. Plumas-Sierra establishes and follows safety protocols based on leading national safety practices for the utility industry. We require our lineworkers to wear specialized equipment when working next to or with power lines. Our lineworkers follow specific protocols when dealing with electricity. We encourage all of our crews to speak up and hold each other accountable for safety.

By cultivating a culture of openness and transparency, we promote problem solving with regard to safety. We examine the information and data gleaned from near misses and accident reports to discern patterns and use safety metrics to improve in those areas where we have fallen short. As appropriate, we brief contractors on our safety protocols and set expectations for their engagement.

Because we live and work in the community we serve, we care about our neighbors. Plumas-Sierra conducts electrical safety demonstrations in schools and for community events.

According to the Electrical Safety Foundation International, each year thousands of people in the United States are critically injured and electrocuted as a result of electrical fires and accidents in their own homes. Many of these are preventable. There is much you can do to keep yourself and your community safe around electricity.

Don’t attempt electrical do-it-yourself projects or overload your outlets. Report downed power lines, unlocked substations or padmount transformers that look amiss.

For more electrical safety information, please visit our website, www.psrec.coop. If you would like us to provide a safety demonstration at your school or community event, please contact us at (800) 555-2207. Be mindful when it comes to electrical safety. Pause and take the extra time to plug into safety.

Telecommunications

We are glad to report we have completed repairs to the coax system in Graeagle and are now connecting customers throughout town.

PST’s coax and wireless broadband services offer download speeds of up to 20 Mbps. Our fiber optic services can go up to 1 gigabyte per second, with even faster speeds available, if needed. With these speeds, you can stream videos on multiple devices at the same time without slowing down. You could even eliminate your TV bill with streaming services. For more information and to sign up for service, call us at (800) 221-3474 or visit www.pst.coop.

One telecommunications issue that has been in the news recently is net neutrality. The rules of the internet are apparently changing at the end of June. Currently, internet service providers are required to treat all internet traffic equally. After the rule change, service providers will be allowed to prioritize traffic, which would allow them to charge more for faster delivery of certain content or to prioritize their own content. PST supports net neutrality and will not treat internet traffic from any source with different priority. We believe in an open internet.

Privacy has been another issue. Plumas-Sierra will never sell your information. Our employees are required to protect your private information—whether it is your address, phone number or how you use the internet. We don’t have the capability to track anyone’s surfing history, and would never install the technology to do so. We believe your private information is private and work to keep it that way.

If you have any questions, please contact me at (800) 555-2207 ext. 6076 or email me at bmarshall@psrec.coop.

Sincerely,

Bob Marshall
General Manager