In the past months, I have been informing members about the pending federal climate change legislation and the increasing costs in all forms of energy.  These are two very important issues surrounding the electric industry and each one will impact all of us as energy consumers.  This month I would like to provide an update regarding these two very important issues.

The first and most important issue facing the electric utility industry is the proposed federal climate change legislation that is pending in Congress.  There are nine proposed bills pending before Congress that vary considerably in how they approach a low-carbon or carbon-constrained economy.  The Lieberman-Warner bill is one of the nine proposed bills that appears to have more attention in 2008.  On June 2nd, the Senate began debate on Senator Boxer's substitute amendment to the Lieberman-Warner climate change bill.  On June 6th, the Senate voted and the Lieberman-Warner bill fell short of the votes needed.  Although there is continuing debate in Congress about the proposed climate change legislation, this vote effectively ended action on climate change in the Senate for the year 2008.  It is very likely that the climate change legislation will be considered a high priority for the new President in 2009.

The primary concern about this issue is the lack of technology and the funds required to develop the needed technology to comply with the emission requirements in the proposed legislation.  In fact, if current technology is utilized in an attempt to meet some of the proposed legislation requirements, electric bills across the country will increase dramatically.  Cooperative's are asking members of Congress to work closely with the energy industry and the consuming public to create legislation that is based upon a realistic approach, economic realism and balances the need to a cleaner environment with what consumers can afford.

Your Cooperative has made it very easy for you as a Cooperative member and owner to contact members of congress regarding this very important issue and voice your concerns with the pending legislation.  Visit your Co-ops website at www.seiec.com and click on the link to www.ourenergy.coop and complete the letter that is available.  If you do not have internet access available to you, you can stop by the office and fill out a card and we will email it to the proper congressman.  Your Cooperative collected over 1,000 cards from concerned members at the Annual Meeting in August and has forwarded those to your elected officials to voice concerns about the pending legislation.

The second issue the electric industry is experiencing is the increasing costs in all forms of energy.   At the Cooperative's 70th Annual Meeting on August 5th, members were informed that the costs to generate electricity were increasing primarily due to the increasing cost of coal.  At the time of the Annual Meeting in early August, the market price of Illinois Basin coal had escalated from $36 per ton in February to $71 per ton representing a 97% increase in five months.  At the time this article is being written, the market price of Illinois Basin coal has risen even higher to $84 per ton representing a 133% increase since February of this year.  The market price of Illinois Basin coal peaked in late August at an even higher price of $93 per ton.

Although your Cooperative's wholesale power supplier is working diligently to find cost effective solutions during this time of increasing costs, members will see some increases in the charge titled "Wholesale Power Cost Adjustment Charge" due to the increasing costs in coal that is used to generate electricity.