Co-ops hail disaster funds included in state budget

July 3, 2019— Rural energy consumers won’t be left to cope on their own when natural disasters strike, thanks to a pair of bipartisan provisions included in the state budget bill signed into law today by Governor Tony Evers.
 
The Wisconsin Electric Cooperative Association (WECA) hailed retention of the two items in the budget package, one providing direct assistance to a cooperative forced to repair and replace an underwater power cable knocked out of service by winter ice, and another re-establishing electric co-ops’ eligibility to make direct application for aid from the Wisconsin Disaster Fund. 
 

Finance Committee: Island Cable Repair Stays in Budget

May 16, 2019—The Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee voted Thursday to retain funding in the state budget bill that offers disaster assistance for the repair and replacement of the underwater cable that failed last June, cutting off electricity to the residents of Washington Island.

The power failure—caused by recurring winter ice damage over multiple years—forced Washington Island Electric Cooperative to switch to more expensive backup generation until the cable could be spliced. With close cooperation from state and federal agencies on routing and permitting, a replacement cable was installed last fall and current costs are now approaching $4 million.
 

Teamwork Time

April 30, 2019—This year’s budget process will be out of the ordinary in multiple ways. Tony Evers is the first Democrat to win the governor’s office in eight years, and both legislative houses reviewing his budget proposal are controlled by Republican majorities. Former leaders of both parties in the State Senate and Assembly recently speculated that 2019 might see three different budget bills: Governor Evers’ plan, another one crafted by legislative Republicans, and finally a compromise adopted well after the customary June 30 deadline. (Unlike the federal government, Wisconsin doesn’t shut down anything when a budget is late; the prior one simply stays in effect.)
 

ROPE Deployment Underway

April 4, 2019—Wisconsin electric cooperatives and others served in neighboring states by the Dairyland Power Cooperative generation and transmission system participate in a mutual assistance program known as ROPE—for Restoration of Power in an Emergency. A large ROPE deployment was underway Friday after the call for help went out on Thursday from Freeborn-Mower Cooperative Services headquartered at Albert Lea, Minnesota. An estimated 400-500 poles were downed and approximately half the accounts on the Freeborn-Mower distribution system were without power in the wake of storms—snow, ice, mixed precipitation, and wind—that tore across the upper Midwest Wednesday and Thursday. Continue here...