Keeping Electric Bills Affordable “Our Energy, Our Future”™ brings the co-op voice to Capitol Hill By: Addie Armato America’s families are facing tough economic times. Many struggle to afford the basics: food, housing, and energy. In fact, the cost of residential electricity climbed an average of 26 percent between 2002 and 2007, and it is projected to go even higher. As if that wasn’t bad enough, today’s electricity supplies won’t be able to keep pace with future demand. Now, elected officials in Washington, D.C., are poised to make important policy decisions that will determine our nation’s energy future. To guide lawmakers in a sound direction, electric cooperatives are making sure that your voice, the voice of the consumer, gets heard during legislative debates. Through the “Our Energy, Our Future”™ grassroots awareness campaign, hundreds of thousands of electric cooperative consumers have already sent more than 1.5 million messages to their members of Congress. Through this outreach, co-ops have shared our insight drawn from decades of offering safe and reliable electricity at affordable rates; service that always makes consumers—not the bottom line—priority one. If you haven’t already done so, please get involved in the campaign by asking your representatives on Capitol Hill one important question: Are you willing to work with electric cooperatives like Pointe Coupee Electric to ensure our nation has reliable power at a price consumers can afford? The stakes are too high to miss this opportunity to help secure YOUR energy future. To learn more about how you can begin a dialogue with your elected officials, please visit www.ourenergy.coop today. Together we can keep electric bills affordable. Source: Straight Talk If you would like more information on energy efficiency ideas, Pointe Coupee Electric can help you by providing brochures and other literature. We also offer residential energy efficiency seminars for groups of eight or more. If you would like more information about the seminars, please call the Member Services Department at 225-638-3751.