Like many of you, my family and I live in a rural area of SouthEastern Illinois and enjoy the beauty of this area including the Shawnee National Forest, the great variety of trees, vegetation and the rolling hills found throughout this region.  As many of you already know, your Cooperative was organized in 1938 to bring electricity to homes and businesses in our rural communities that investor owned utilities would not serve.  All of us have benefited immensely from the development of your Cooperative and can enjoy all of the benefits of electricity.  Now, some 70 years after your Cooperative was formed, there is a need to bring a new service to the rural areas that we live in.  One area of our lives that has developed so rapidly over the past several years is the use of the internet but unfortunately, many of us in rural areas do not have an adequate high-speed, cost effective and reliable connection to the internet from our rural homes and businesses.

Several years ago, your Cooperative along with five other Electric Cooperatives in Southern Illinois formed a company called Southern Services LLC.  This company was formed to investigate needs in the rural areas that we serve and to help bring value added services and products to our rural members.  Over the past few years, representatives of this company have been investigating the possibility of bringing high-speed internet to the rural communities that we serve. 

When this investigation began, the original concept was to use a new technology called Broadband Over Power Lines (BPL) and use the existing distribution power lines to bring high-speed internet to our rural homes and businesses.  As this technology developed and the use of the internet exploded, we began to see that BPL may not be the most appropriate technology to deliver high-speed internet to our rural communities.  At that point, the investigation turned to other technologies including satellite and other wireless communication technologies.  The satellite technology has had some high points and some low points but remains a higher cost alternative when it is available. 

The installation of the wireless technology normally consists of larger antennas normally installed on structural towers, water towers, etc. that connect to the internet thru a variety of other technologies and smaller antennas installed on homes and businesses.  The wireless technology has many benefits including less equipment and the ability to connect to the internet at a variety of locations, not just your home or business.  Some of the challenges of the wireless technology include the difficulty in communicating thru the variety of trees and other vegetation found throughout Southern Illinois along with rolling hills that can also block this communication technology.

In the first few months of this year, Southern Services LLC will be conducting two pilot projects in two areas of Southern Illinois that will bring high-speed internet to rural customers in Southern Illinois using a wireless technology.  During these two pilot projects, Southern Services will determine the reliability, speed, availability and cost effectiveness of this technology in order to determine the feasibility of making this technology available to rural customers of Southern Illinois.  Once the results of these two projects are known, Southern Services LLC will make a decision regarding the implementation of this technology across Southern Illinois.  I will update you in the near future regarding these results and the direction of Southern Services LLC.

See you next month and as always, "We'll keep the lights on for you."