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P.O. Box 220, Cheney, KS 67025
316-542-3131 or 866-542-4732
www.sedgwickcountyelectric.coop
SEDGWICK COUNTY
E L E C T R I C C O O P E R AT I V E
Sedgwick County Electric Cooperative
Sedgwick County
Electric Cooperative, Inc.
Board of Trustees
Eugene Scheer
President
Stan Theis
Vice President
Margie Conyac
Secretary/Treasurer
Clint DeVore
Trustee
Cindy Foster
Trustee
Donald Metzen
Trustee
Alan J. Smarsh
Trustee
Rex Smith
Trustee
Daniel Thimesch
Trustee
Staff
Dave Childers
General Manager
Marcia Kampling
Office Manager
Wayne Voss
Line Superintendent
Contact
Information
Headquarters
P.O. Box 220
1355 S 383rd St West
Cheney, KS 67025
316-542-3131
FAX 316-542-3943
currentnews
Nominating Committee Meets
A meeting of the Nominating Committee of the
Sedgwick County Electric
Cooperative Association,
Inc., was held on February
5, 2015.
Committee members
present were: James Scheer,
Joe Baallman, Fred Foley,
Fred Hommertzheim, Teresa
Robben, Steve Hilger, Robert Potter and Chris Smith.
The committee elected
James Scheer as chairman.
2015 Nominating Committee members (from left): James Scheer, Teresa
Manager Dave Childers and Robben, Fred Foley, Steve Hilger, Joe Baallman, Robert Potter, Fred HomAdministration Assistance
mertzheim and Chris Smith.
Jacque Boyd were also in
attendance.
 CLINT DEVORE – Norwich/Murdock
The meeting was called to order
 DONALD METZEN and
my Manager Dave Childers who
THOMAS COX – Viola/Clonmel
briefly explained the purpose of the
 EUGENE SCHEER – Garden Plain/
Nominating Committee and read
Goddard
the “qualifications” section of the
Trustee elections will be held at
cooperative by-laws. The following
the Annual Membership Meeting on
individuals were nominated:
Tuesday, April 7, 2015.
Annual Meeting is April 7, 2015
S
The Annual Membership Meeting of Sedgwick County Electric Co-op
will be held on Tuesday, April 7, 2015, at the Cotillion Hall and Ballroom,
11120 W. Kellogg in Wichita. Doors will open at 6:15 p.m. and dinner will
5
be served at 6:30 p.m.
12
 Cooperative Update
 Door Prizes
19
 Youth Tour Winner Announced
26
 Employee Service Awards and Introductions
MARCH 2015
April 2015
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KANSAS COUNTRY LIVING
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C U R R E N T N E W S F R O M S E D G W I C K C O U N T Y E L E C T R I C C O O P E R AT I V E
Need to Report
an Outage?
316-542-3131
Our Outage Number Has Changed
Automatic Bank
Draft Changes
Sedgwick County Electric Co-op offers
two debit options. Sign up for bank draft
and your account will be automatically be
debited on either the third Wednesday or
the last Friday of the month. This is a service your cooperative offers at no charge.
If you are interested in automatic
bank draft, please contact our office 316542-3943 to complete the necessary forms.
Pole Testing Continues
The objective of our Pole Inspection
program is to determine if a pole is
still useful and safe. Sedgwick County
Electric Co-op currently contracts with S
& L Pole Testing Co to perform our pole
inspections.
S&L Pole Testing Company will be
testing poles between 151st Street and
263rd Street, South of Goddard and
South/East of Garden Plain area.
Energy Efficiency Tip
Summer is right around the corner! Have
you changed your home’s air filter? Filters
get loaded with more and more particles
as they do their job. This actually has the
effect of making it more efficient, but
it also increases resistance and reduces
airflow. Remember to check filters once
a month.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day
Tuesday, March 17
Happy Easter–April 5
The employees and Trustees
of Sedgwick County Electric
Cooperative hope you have a
Happy Easter.
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KANSAS COUNTRY LIVING
MARCH 2015
Sedgwick
County
Electric
Cooperative
316-542-3131
After-hours outage reporting has transferred to Cooperative
Response Center (CRC). If you have an outage, please call 316542-3131. We will no longer use the phone number 316-761-7225.
Please make a note to call 316-542-3131 for any outages.
Why Do we Have Daylight Saving Time?
Don’t forget to Spring Forward on March 8
You might think that daylight saving time was
conceived to give farmers an extra hour of
sunlight to till their fields, but this is a common
misconception. In fact, farmers have long
been opposed to springing forward and falling
back, since it throws off their usual harvesting
schedule. The real reasons for daylight saving
are based around energy conservation and a
desire to match daylight hours to the times
when most people are awake.
The idea dates back to 1895, when entomologist George Vernon Hudson unsuccessfully
proposed an annual two-hour time shift to the
Royal Society of New Zealand. Ten years later,
the British construction magnate William Willett picked up where Hudson left off when he
argued that the United Kingdom should adjust
their clocks by 80 minutes each spring and fall
to give people more time to enjoy daytime
recreation. Willett was a tireless advocate of
what he called “Summer Time,” but his idea
never made it through Parliament.
The first real experiments with daylight
saving time began during World War I. On April
30, 1916, Germany and Austria implemented
a one-hour clock shift as a way of conserving
electricity needed for the war effort. The United Kingdom and several other European nations
adopted daylight saving shortly thereafter, and
the United States followed suit in 1918. Most
Americans only saw the time adjustment as a
wartime act, and it was later repealed in 1919.
Standard time ruled until 1942, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt reinstituted daylight
saving during World War II. This time, more
states continued using daylight saving after the
conflict ended, but for decades there was little
consistency with regard to its schedule.
Finally, in 1966, Congress passed the
Uniform Time Act, which standardized daylight
saving across the country and established its
start and end times in April and October (later
changed to March and November in 2007).
Meanwhile, Hawaii and Arizona have opted out
of daylight saving altogether and remain on
standard time year round.
Daylight Saving = Time to Check Smoke Alarms
Daylight Saving is a perfect time to check fire,
smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, and to
change out batteries. Make sure smoke detectors work properly by using the alarm test option. Use a vacuum to make sure there are no
cobwebs, spiders or other little insects taking
up residence which would hinder the effects of
the smoke alarm.
Detectors play a larger role in survival
than one might think. A recent study
showed that inoperable smoke
alarms caused two-thirds of fire
related deaths due to damage,
defects and missing batteries.
It is recommended writing the
date on the new battery in the detector so
there will be no question as to when it was last
replaced.
Daylight Saving time is also a great time
to review home safety with family members
including escape routes and checking all electrical outlets. Practice a home safety review and
test procedures on getting out safely in an
emergency situation. Look through the house
for any hazards, such as overloaded or
improperly placed extension cords.
It is recommended to make sure
areas around the furnace, water
heater and stove are clear of
debris that can cause fire.
Implementing Quality Surge Protection
There is little, if anything, you can buy today
that does not have some electronic component.
Even clothing as wearable electronics are starting to take hold. Not to mention a device that
allows you to make a keyboard from bananas
(www.makeymakey.com). So, it’s time to take a
look at making sure your electronics last as long
as possible. We are not talking about replacement plans or extended warranties. Today we’re
talking about protecting your products from
electrical surges.
The first order of business is to define a
surge. Here’s one from Computer Hope “alternatively known as a line surge, a surge is an
unexpected increase in voltage in an electrical
current that causes damage to electrical equipment. For example, the standard United States
voltage is 120V. If an electrical current above this
rating was to come through a power outlet for
more than three nanoseconds, this would be
considered a surge, anything less is considered
a spike. A surge is usually created by lightning
and can damage unprotected computers and
sometimes even protected computers.”
Many people think a blink from Sedgwick
County Electric Cooperative’s system is a surge,
but these are generally caused by something
like a tree contacting a line. In such cases, the
system’s protective devices work, causing an
interruption to protect the wires and other
components. These are not surges, but more like
turning a light on and off.
True surges will enter a home through
any number of avenues. The most obvious is
through the power lines. Less obvious is through
the telephone lines, cable/satellite connections,
water lines and any other metallic system that
connects to your home. So, to protect against
surges, you need to take a three-pronged
approach.
Perhaps the most important thing to do
is to be sure all the grounds in your home are
good and that they are bonded together. Over
the years, grounds can deteriorate, new services
can be added with inadequate grounding and
so forth. A faulty ground will allow surges
into the home rather than bleeding
them off into the earth. Get a
qualified electrician to test
and correct your grounding system.
BY T O M TAT E
Next, protect your electrical service entrance with a surge device. Sedgwick County
Electric Co-op offers a TESCO Surge Suppressor
for a one-time charge of $25 for the installation of the meter base device along with a $5
monthly fee which is added to your monthly
bill. The TES 240 MSA meter base lightning and
surge protection ring attaches to the meter
base to provide maximum protection. The TES
240 MSA comes with a TESCO warranty that
has a total household coverage of $50,000 and
$5,000 per appliance. For more information
or to sign up for the TESCO Surge Suppressor
program, please contact our office.
When a surge travels down the electric
lines, these devices will act to “clamp” the
surge and reduce its power. These are sacrificial
devices that allow themselves to be destroyed
rather than allowing the surge to pass through.
Noble devices indeed!
The third prong is to protect expensive
devices at their point of use. Computers and
entertainment equipment are prime examples.
Remember that surges can enter the home via
avenues other than the power lines. Computers
and entertainment equipment are frequently
connected to cable and phone lines. Those
devices need to have protection at the point of
use that covers all possible avenues. These are
generally in the form of a power strip or wall
device most of us are familiar with. Use a quality
product from a manufacturer such as Monster,
Belkin, Tripp Lite, or APC, to name a few. Look
for one with a joule rating of at least 1,000, a
connected equipment warranty and compatibility with digital signals from cable and satellite.
While you are at it, look for a “smart” strip that
turns off all but one connected device when
not in use.
Save money on your electric bill while
protecting your equipment. It’s a
definite win-win.
MARCH 2015
KANSAS COUNTRY LIVING
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WANTED! Youth Tour Participants
Don't Miss These FREE Trips & Scholarships
Have we caught your attention? That’s
right FREE! Sedgwick County Electric
Co-op will select two students to take
an all-expense-paid trip in the summer
of 2015.
One winner will be chosen to join
over 1,600 youth in Washington, D.C.,
for the Electric Cooperative Youth
Tour. He or she will fly to our nation’s capital to visit with government
officials and the many historic sites.
Plus, the winner will receive a $250
scholarship.
One winner will be chosen to
attend the Cooperative Youth Leadership Camp in Steamboat Springs, CO.
The winner will also receive a $250
scholarship.
The lucky winners will gain knowledge and experience that will help
them grow as they pursue their future
careers. Both trips are funded entirely
by Sedgwick County Electric Co-op. All
you will need is spending money for
souvenirs and a desire to have a great
time!
MONROE CHRISCO, 2014 winner of the Washington, D.C., trip
said, “Sedgwick
County Electric
Cooperative gave
me a once-in-alifetime opportunity to go to
Washington, D.C.
During my trip we
toured the capitol, memorials,
and other areas.
One of the most
inspirational of
these memorials
Monroe Chrisco poses at the
Katie Helten enjoys the view
was the Lincoln
U.S. Capitol during the 2014
of Elk River during CooperaElectric Cooperative Youth
tive Youth Leadership Camp
Memorial. The
Tour.
This
year’
s
Youth
Tour
is
2014. This year’s camp will be
sheer size of this
scheduled for June 11-18.
July 11-17.
memorial, with
the symbols of
Co-op, you are eligible to participate in
peace and strength he portrayed, really our youth tour drawing. Two winners
mesmerized me”.
will receive an all-expense-paid trip to
KATIE HELTEN, winner of the 2014
either Washington, D.C., or Steamboat
Cooperative Youth Leadership Camp
Springs, CO.
called the recent camp, “one of the
Please return the form by March
greatest experiences of my life.”
13, 2015, to be eligible for the drawing.
If you’re a sophomore or junior
For further information, contact your
in high school whose parents are
high school counselor or call Sedgwick
members of Sedgwick County Electric
County at 316-542-3131.
Application for Youth Tour Contest–Due March 13, 2015
Two winners will receive an all-expense-paid trip to either Washington, D.C., or Steamboat Springs, CO. Winners will be drawn at the March
Board Meeting and will be announced at our Annual Meeting in April 2015. Please complete and return this form to Sedgwick County Electric
Cooperative, P.O. Box 220, Cheney, KS 67025 by March 13, 2015, to qualify.
Name of Applicant _________________________________________________________________________________________________
Address _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
City_______________________________________________________________ State _____________ Zip ________________
Grade ________________________
School _____________________________________________________________________
Gender _____Male _____ Female
Home Phone____________________________
Cell Phone___________________________
Email _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Name of Parents or Guardians ____________________________________________________________________________________
I agree that all information supplied in this application is accurate and true. ________________________________________________
(Signature of Applicant)
I hereby grant permission for ___________________________________________________to enter the 2015 Youth Tour competition
(Name of Applicant)
sponsored by Sedgwick County Electric Cooperative, Inc. ____________________________________________________________________
(Signature of Parent/Legal Guardian)
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KANSAS COUNTRY LIVING MARCH 2015