How Are We Containing Our Costs? Cooperative, Inc

COOPERATIVEconnection

Valley FROM THE PRESIDENT & CEO Rural Electric How are we containing our costs? Cooperative, Inc.

ONE OF THE key differ- and business expansion in our territory ences between a coopera- has been stagnant in recent years, so we tive and a private power have not had the benefit of load growth company is our not-for- to offset the cost of inflation. One of 14 electric profit business model. This So, what are we doing to contain cooperatives serving Pennsylvania and means we continually these rising costs in key areas? New Jersey strive to provide the high- We are constantly using methods est possible quality of serv- that help us operate more efficiently ice at the lowest possible without sacrificing our reliability and Valley Rural Electric cost. Without investors and service quality. Some examples include: Cooperative, Inc. by Wayne Miller Wall Street pressuring us to k Moving toward digital mapping and 10700 Fairgrounds Road President & CEO post a specific profit and automated meter reading systems, P.O. Box 477 return, we can focus com- which will give us more detailed Huntingdon, PA 16652-0477 814/643-2650 pletely on quality and cost of service. information, allowing our operations 1-800-432-0680 As with all electric utilities, our costs and office personnel to respond more www.valleyrec.com fall into three categories: generation, quickly to outages and answer ques- transmission and distribution. tions more thoroughly

BOA RD O F D IRE CT O RS Together with electric cooperatives k Changing our bill format to reduce James Stauffer in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, we mailing and processing time Chairman own about 70 percent of our energy k Purchasing construction materials

Leroy Barnes supply, so we maintain fairly strong through a regional utility supply Vice Chairman expense control in the area of genera- cooperative to take advantage of price tion. Our generation sources consist of breaks Kevin States Secretary nuclear and hydro power, which are, by k Updating and expanding our coordi- their nature, stable generation costs. We nated load management system, Clair McCall are left with about 30 percent of our which will further reduce our power Treasurer supply exposed to the price pressures supply costs during peak demand Robert Holmes of the energy market. periods and help us minimize our car- Allegheny Director The costs we incur to get the power bon footprint

David Wright from the plant to our substations are k Requiring all executive staff to scruti- PREA Director transmission expenses. Given our size, nize their budgets and defer or cut it doesn’t make financial sense for us to items that will not negatively impact Cindy Bigelow Mervin Brumbaugh build our own transmission infrastruc- customer service Earl Parsons ture, so we buy “space” on the trans- In spite of our cutbacks and cost- mission lines of other Pennsylvania saving initiatives, we will inevitably need

C OR P ORA T E O FF I CE H OUR S utilities. Unfortunately, these costs are to increase our rates in the very near Monday - Friday rising due to increasing load growth future. The good news is that we are 7 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. and demand for power. well-positioned to keep increases to an

H UN T IN G D ON / M A RT IN S BUR G /S H AD E G A P Our personnel, buildings, equip- absolute minimum — not the 30-70 per- O FF IC E HOU R S ment, poles and wires all make up our cent hikes occurring with private power Monday - Thursday 7 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. distribution expenses. From pens and companies. You can rest assured we are paper to transformers and bucket working hard to manage costs and we trucks, prices have skyrocketed for will continue to keep you informed of everything that enables us to deliver any changes to our bottom line and electricity. At the same time, residential yours. l

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VALLEY RURAL ELECTRIC member Richard Port is cuckoo for clocks. For three decades, the Hesston (Huntingdon County) TIME ON resident has been repairing and restoring timepieces as a hobby. “I started buying junk clocks at flea mar- kets and fixing them,” Richard reflects. “The mechanics of the clockworks intrigued me. I liked the challenge of figuring out how they HIS HANDS were put together ... which way the gears should go ... how many teeth they should have.” Gears are always turning Talent with tickers Richard’s knack for clock repair and restoration stems from a long work history for local clock repairman in the mechanical and electronic fields. After high school, he served four years in B y Susan R. Penning the U.S. Air Force as an aircraft mechanic, Director of Member Services stationed at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana. Upon completing his enlistment, he moved to Lansdale, Pa., where he attend- ed electronics school at the Philadelphia Wireless Institute. He built memory cores for computers for many years before retiring as a manufacturing manager at a company that made add-on memory for mainframes. What he didn’t learn about the science of clocks during his careers, Richard picked up through his affiliation with the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors. “The organization had a library. You could pay the postage and have books about clocks sent right to your door. I’d read them, then send them back. I learned a lot about clock repair through those books,” he notes. Back to his roots Prior to retirement, Richard and his wife lived, worked and raised their three daugh- ters in southeastern Pennsylvania, primarily Bucks County. During that time, Richard sold many of his restored clocks in his wife’s antique shop in New Jersey. It wasn’t until four years ago that the empty-nesters decided to return to their Huntingdon County roots. (They were both born and raised here.) The couple purchased a cottage near the lake and have been living the simpler life ever since.

ALL IN A DAY’S WORK: Valley Rural Electric member Richard Port spends his free time repairing and restoring mechanical clocks. He has enjoyed the hobby for 30 years. Here, he showcases his latest project, a cuckoo clock he’s fixing for a neighbor.

14b PENN LINES • FEBRUARY 2009 Valley Rural Electric Cooperative, Inc.

LEFT: Richard replaces a brass bushing, a tiny pin- like piece that is a vital part of the bearings of mechanical time-tellers.

RIGHT: Richard reveals the inside of a 1920s “Baby Ben” alarm clock.

“I remove the works from the clock and bring them to the shop. It would be too difficult to bring the entire thing here.” Richard charges about $100-$200 for a typical repair job. “Sure, you can buy a clock cheaper in “The clock contained the store,” he says. “People usually pay to all wooden works. I had to cut out and file get a clock fixed because it holds senti- new tiny wooden teeth,” Richard recalls. mental value ... maybe it was one that was “The work was quite delicate and in your family for several generations or involved. It was a challenge to get (the maybe it was a retirement gift from your clock) to time, strike and chime correctly.” employer. Sentimentality is key in this line It’s that detail and variety in the work “It was just so crowded everywhere of work.” that keeps Richard content. In fact, he’s else,” Richard sighs. “Now I spend my worked on early 1800s pieces, modern time fixing clocks and working around Up for the challenge pieces and everything in between. the house.” One of the most difficult projects “I guess I just love to troubleshoot,” he Richard set up a small clock shop in Richard has tackled over the years was admits. his basement where he spends 10-20 the restoration of an antique Rittenhouse Richard advertises his clock repair and hours a week tinkering with timekeepers. clock. That brand was first made famous restoration services in the Trading Post sec- “What’s nice about my hobby is that it in the 18th century by renowned Philadel- tion of the Valley News. For more informa- doesn’t require a lot of work space,” he phia astronomer, inventor and clockmak- tion on getting your own mechanical clock points out. “And the parts aren’t expen- er David Rittenhouse. repaired or restored, call 814/643-1582. l sive. It’s the labor that you put into each project that adds up.” Behind the times Time is money How clocks work Richard works strictly with mechani- Mechanical clocks typically use a cal clocks (rather than quartz or atomic mainspring and weighted pendulum to varieties) and averages about two to four advance a pointer at a controlled rate. repair requests at a time. When the clock is wound with a key, He has restored many different types the mainspring is tightened. As the of timepieces, including wall clocks, mainspring unwinds, it turns the gears, which move the minute and hour grandfather and grandmother clocks, hands at different speeds around the schoolhouse clocks, cuckoo clocks, mod- face of the clock. The pendulum ern clocks and gallery clocks (character- ensures that the hands move at a reg- ized by their large displays that can be ular pace. At the top of the pendulum viewed from a distance). are two hooks called pallets. As the “I usually get them because they don’t bob swings, the pallets allow the work anymore ... they won’t run or they escape wheel to turn slowly and evenly. won’t chime,” he says. Galileo had the idea early in the Richard tells his customers he needs 17th century to use a swinging bob to about two months to finish a project. regulate the motion of a time-telling WORTH MORE THAN ITS WEIGHT: Richard’s “That gives me time to find the prob- device. However, Dutch astronomer favorite piece is an antique Seth Thomas clock, and physicist Christiaan Huygens is lem, pick up or order any necessary parts, which he bought at a flea market and restored usually credited as the inventor. He fix the problem and run the clock for a to original condition. Seth Thomas is known as determined the mathematical formu- America’s oldest clockmaker. while so I know it’s working properly,” he la that related pendulum length to explains. time (99.38 cm or 39.13 inches for inspired the making of the first pen- For large grandfather and grandmoth- the one-second movement) and dulum-driven clock. er clocks, Richard makes house calls.

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in Cresson, Cambria County. Jason’s Meet your father, Richard, and mother, Sharon, live in St. Augustine. Jason has one sister, Melissa. Melissa and her husband, Jake, employees reside in Pittsburgh. They have two boys, Lexington, 5, and Gabriel, 1. Highlighted in this column is a recent Jason and his wife currently reside in addition to the Valley REC team, Jason Gallitzin, Cambria County. They both Hey. Jason came to the cooperative in enjoy camping and bike riding. Jason April 2008 as a staking engineer in the also enjoys fishing at Glendale Lake. Martinsburg District. As for his job at Valley REC, Jason says As a staking engineer, Jason has he feels a great sense of accomplishment. numerous duties. “I like the power industry,” he says. “I meet with members regarding the “The necessity of electricity makes our job requirements of new electric service. I important.” submit work orders for pole replace- He also notices a difference in co-op Jason Hey ments, system upgrades and equipment consumers versus the cable customers relocation,” Jason explains. “I also take Jason moved back to Pennsylvania and he served while with Atlantic Broad- care of all PA One Call requests. And I took a job as a cable line technician with band. coordinate jobs with the district manag- Atlantic Broadband in Clearfield. He “The attitude toward the cooperative er and linemen supervisor.” spent 10 years there, the last two of is very positive. Now I get more compli- Jason came to the co-op with some which he served as a supervisor. While ments than complaints,” he chuckles. significant experience in his field. at the cable company, he earned five cer- Jason is looking forward to a long A U.S. Air Force veteran, Jason spent tificates from the National Cable Televi- career at Valley. four years as a communications systems sion Institute and began familiarizing “I love the mapping and staking technician (or ‘cable dog’ as it is dubbed himself with global positioning system field,” he says. “I’m excited to learn the in the military) stationed at MacDill Air hardware and software. Jason then new computerized mapping and staking Force Base in Tampa Bay, Fla. There, his answered Valley’s call for a new staking equipment and software. It’s great to military technical school training and engineer and relocated to take the job. incorporate technologies that take this top secret security clearance allowed A native of St. Augustine, Cambria business to the next level.” him to operate radio and satellite com- County, Jason is a 1994 graduate of Cam- Jason’s fellow employees at the coop- munications equipment and perform bria Heights High School. His wife of erative look forward to working with maintenance. seven years, Melissa, works as an admin- him for many years. He’s one of the peo- After completing his enlistment, istrative assistant at a real estate agency ple you can count on. l

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