From the Manager

By Kevin Turner General Manager

Better technology has been mak-ing your electricity more reliable every year. In the last year, BECi has been using more sophisticated meters and monitoring systems to detect outages faster than ever. We’re more advanced than we were a decade ago and we don’t always have to wait for someone to call and say they’re out of power. Now, the mem-ber’s electric meter will let us know. According to a nationwide bench-marking report from the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the amount of time a typical consumer is without power during a year has declined by 20 percent. At face value, 20 percent may not seem like a lot; but when outage times are reduced at that rate among the 42 million consumer-owners in more than 45 states, 20 percent can make a difference. With that being said, some power outages are simply impossible to elimi-

nate. Those include lightning strikes, equipment failure, trees falling on power lines, people driving into utility poles and animals touching energized equipment. Snakes and squirrels are a pain for all power providers. In case you want to know how much of a pain squirrels can be, check out the website www.cybersquirrel1.com. The site fea-tures a map of all power outages caused by squirrels. You can scan the world and search for the incidents caused by squir-rels or other animals, by month or year, and click through to a news account of the details. (Acct. No. 88669365-001) As technology advances, remember that we are still your locally owned power provider that has been serving you and your community for over 75 years. We’re your neighbors and we will continue to do our best to prevent out-ages so you can enjoy the safe, reliable and affordable power you depend on.

BECi News Kevin Turner, ManagerDale Peterson, President

Beauregard Electric Cooperative, Inc.P.O. Drawer 970, DeRidder, LA 70634 (800-367-0275)

Page 6 • Louisiana Country • July 2016

Beauregard Electric is offering its members an opportunity to win the Co-op’s Lucky Account Number

Contest by publishing four account numbers some-where on pages 6-7 of Louisiana Country.

Look for your account number hidden somewhere on these pages.

To win, you must locate your account number (listed on your electric bill) on these pages and then contact the Co-op. To claim your prize, call

800-367-0275 or 463-6221 by Aug. 15.

You could win $50!!

Retrofitting your manufactured home for peak energy efficiency

BECiofficialsexpressedtheirappreciationtothelocalcooperative’s membership, which recently approved changes to the organization’s outdated Articles of Incorporation. In a vote of the membership conducted last month, BECi consumers overwhelmingly approved a measure proposed by the co-op’s board and management that updates the Articles of Incorporation originally adopted by BECi’s founders more than 75 years ago. According to BECi General Manager Kevin Turner, alterations to the document were necessary to allow the member-owned cooperative to stay competitive and continue fulfillingitsmissiontoprovidesafe,affordable,reliablepower to more than 30,000 members across seven parishes. “These steps were necessary for us to keep pace with the rapid changes taking place not only in our industry here in Southwest Louisiana but with the constantly shifting national and global business trends and economic conditions

as well,” Turner said. “The old Articles of Incorporation served their purpose back when the co-op was founded, but we need to ramp things up to today’s business standards and practices.” Turner said the election was supervised and validated by C. Randall Brown, CPA, and that 17 percent of the total ballots were returned. More than 90 percent of the voting members approved the proposal. Board President Dale Peterson thanked members, employees, management and his fellow board members for working hard to achieve a goal that will help BECi maintain its status as a leader among the nation’s nearly 1,000 electric cooperatives. Peterson pointed out that board directors are democrat-ically elected by the members they represent, are members of BECi themselves and all have a vested interest in the suc-cess of the cooperative, which employs 130 workers.

“WefeelBECiisasignificantcontributortothecom-munity and we all want to see our co-op thrive,” Peterson said. “We felt this vote was critical to achieving that success over the long term. Our roots are here in Southwest Loui-siana and we want to continue to serve our members and improve the quality of life for everyone.” Turner said the election was conducted over a 60-day period beginning March 2, 2016. On April 6, 30,262 voting ballots were mailed to all BECi members. They were re-turned in a self-addressed envelope to the independent CPA firm.(Acct.No.88668084-002) Winners of a random prize drawing, to encourage participation in the election, were announced. The winners were not required to be present during the election process. The winners are: Larry Fields, Louis Caswell, George Jack-son, Bill Vancleave, Jason Martinez, Gary Savant, Maurice Cochran, Tony Bowen, Lydia Golden and George Will.

BECi thanks members for participation in recent election

July 2016 • Louisiana Country • Page 7

If you live in a manufactured home, chances are you may have a dispropor-tionately higher energy bill than a family living in a traditional wood-frame home. The good news is there are many ways you can improve your home’s energy ef-ficiency. First, let us clarify the difference between a mobile home and a manufactured home. Some use the term manufactured home and mobile home interchange-ably. A mobile home is a factory built home constructed before 1976. Thereafter, factory-built homes were called manufactured homes and were engineered and constructed in accordance with the 1976 federal code administered by Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). There are many differences between manufactured homes built before the U.S. HUD Code took effect in 1976 and those built afterward. One of the major differ-encesisenergyefficiency.Thosebuiltbeforefederalstandardswereputinplaceweregenerallynotasenergyefficientaslatermodels.Whileyourmanufacturedhomemayhavebeenbuilttotheenergystandardsofthetime,significantprogresshasbeenmadeoverthepastdecadeswithhigh-efficiencymechanicalequipment,windows,insulation,sidingandroofingmaterials. Inshort,whetheryourhomeis50or5yearsold,mosthomescanbenefitfromenergyefficiencymeasuressimplyduetowearandtear.Sunlight,seasonaltemperature changes and wind can increase air leakage. Doors, windows and duct work may not close tightly and duct work can spring leaks, wasting cooling and heating energy. The Department of Energy recommends the following steps to retrofityourmanufacturedhomeandimproveenergyefficiency: 1.Installenergy-efficientwindowsanddoors 2. Replace insulation in the belly 3. Make general repairs (seal bottom board, caulk windows, doors, ducts, etc.) 4. Add insulation to your walls 5. Install or seal belly wrap 6. Add insulation to your roof or install a roof cap. In addition to the measures listed above, consider caulking and weather-stripping windows and doors, particularly if you are not able to replace them with moreenergy-efficientones.Properlysealanyopeningsaroundductsandplumb-ingfixtures.ReplaceanyincandescentlightbulbswithLEDs–bothindoorsandoutside. Finally, if you are planning to move to a new manufactured home, look for the Energy Star rated model. (Acct. No. 133756-001)

BECi employees donated $14,568 to United Way of Southwest Louisi-ana. Through this generous donation, United Way of Southwest Louisiana can continue working to advance the greater good by focusing on educa-tion, income and health in Southwest Louisiana. Pictured above from left to right are: Manager of Information Technology Margaretta Mayes, Communication Specialist Danielle Spina, Vice President of Marketing and Member Services Kay Fox, General Manager Kevin Turner and Resource Development Manager of United Way of Southwest Louisi-ana Felicia Burke.

BECi supports local United Way

Updated meters are reducing outage times for BECi members

Coming Soon - BECi’s New PrePay ProgramIt really is that simple………Think of your electric bill just like your car’s gas tank.Low fuel, add gasLow balance, add payment

• If a member has a deposit, BECi will transfer that deposit to the existing account • No Deposit, just pay $50 toward electric bill• No Disconnect Fees• No Reconnect Fees• No Billing Due Dates• Daily text or e-mail message alerts with usage history and account balance• When balance gets low, member will receive an alert through email or text to make payment• Member can pay money toward the account as many times as they wish through the IVR system, on the

mobile app, online, mail or directly to any BECi offce• Member can set up $10 minimum through Auto-Pay when funds are low• If disconnected, minimum to pay is $25 plus any balance, then account will be reconnected at no charge• No Monthly Electric Bill Statement, can view account at any time

BECi sponsored four local students as part of the 52nd Annual Electric Cooperative Youth Tour in Washington, D.C. Representing BECi were Gabrielle Greene, Aryiana Moore,TabithaBufordandAprilLeslie.AlexisSellersof DeRidder was also part of the local delegation and was sponsored by the Association of Louisiana Electric Cooperatives (ALEC) in Baton Rouge. Since BECi began participating in the annual Youth Tourprogram,dozensoflocalstudentshavebenefitedfrom what has often been described as a “life changing” experience.

For their trip to Washington, the local students joined a group of 28 other students and chaperones from elec-tric cooperatives across the state and ALEC. While in Washington, the students convened with more than 1,600 others from 37 states for the annual program. “The purpose of this worthwhile program is to give local students a chance to develop leadership skills, learn how electric cooperatives work, see our government in action and tour Washington, D.C.,” said BECi General Manager Kevin Turner. “We’re happy that these local students had a great time in Washington and that the cooperative could make this once-in-a-lifetime event pos-sible for them. I know they learned a lot and represented Louisiana well.” BECi’s Youth Tour Coordinator Danielle Spina said the cooperative is proud to continue supporting the worthwhile program that builds leadership skills and enriches the lives of each participant. “Working with these young people is a real joy, to seethemexperiencinganimportantpartofournationalhistoryandheritageforthefirsttimeandtoknowthatsomething we are doing is making a difference in their lives,” she said.

During the week-long Youth Tour, the students learned about electric co-ops, visited Capitol Hill to meet Loui-siana Senators and Representatives and had the unique chance to act as lobbyists and voice their concerns and pose their questions directly to lawmakers. Students also visited the Lincoln Memorial, the World War II, Vietnam, and Korean War Memorials, Arlington NationalCemetery,theSmithsonianMuseumcomplex,Mount Vernon and the Dulles Air and Space Museum. In addition to taking in the many sights and sounds of

the nation’s capital, all the various groups from participat-ing states convened for National Youth Day on June 14 to hearfromvariouspublicfiguresandotherinspirationalspeakers. (Acct. No. 88674215-001) During their trip, the Louisiana students also visited the Washington Monument, the Jefferson Memorial, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial and the Martin Luther King Memorial. To view a YouTube video of the trip, visit https://youtu.be/8KgS20s9c9I.

Local students take the ‘trip of a lifetime’ to Washington, D.C.

Clockwise from top/left: Local Youth Tour delegates are pictured in front of the White House; the students also visited the Lincoln Memorial and the Smithsonian Museums on the National Mall; U.S. Rep. John Fleming met with Youth Tour students on the steps of the U.S. Capitol Building and spent time answering questions and discussing his policy positions on matters currently being addressed by the House members.

“The purpose of the program is to give local students a chance to

develop leadership skills, learn how electric co-ops work and see our

government in action.”- BECi General Manager

Kevin Turner

BECI NEWs July 2016 • www.beci.org

YOUR COOPERATIvE CONNECTION

BECi Youth Tour students take the ‘trip of a lifetime’ to Washington, D.C.

LOUISIANAC O U N T R Y

Youth Tour delegates Gabrielle Greene, Aryiana Moore, Alexis Sellers, Tabitha Buford and April Leslie