Brrr…!! That’s what most of us say when the temperatures drop and we seek a warm refuge inside our homes this time of year. Shorter, colder days drive us inside where we rely on our heating systems, lights and everyday appliances to run our homes. Often, many of us are using power around the same time – early mornings and early evenings – putting a strain on our aging electric grid.

Farmers Electric Cooperative works closely with Central Iowa Power Cooperative (CIPCO), our wholesale power provider, to plan ahead for these seasonal changes. Together, we take a thoughtful, long-range approach to make sure your power is reliable. These efforts include resource planning, power supply forecasting, and system maintenance that help keep energy flowing even during Iowa’s toughest weather. But it’s also important to remember that we’re part of a much larger regional and national grid.

When homes and businesses everywhere are using electricity at once, total demand can sometimes push close to— or on rare occasions beyond—available supply. In the uncommon event that demand threatens to exceed supply, the regional grid operator may call for temporary, controlled outages (often called rolling blackouts) to protect the stability of the system. When this happens, we call upon our largest load members to curtail power consumption.

To help prevent these situations, our co-op and CIPCO work year-round to safeguard grid reliability. We conduct routine maintenance, invest in modern equipment, and plan and prepare for emergencies to help strengthen our local system. But reliability is a shared responsibility, and our members play an important part, too.

When our entire community works together, small changes can truly make a difference. Thank you for helping our co-op keep our system reliable!