As CEO of your cooperative, I can assure you that providing our communities with exceptional value by keeping electricity affordable and reliable is central to our mission every day at Halifax EMC. At our annual meeting in May, I discussed many achievements the cooperative has had over the past year, but I also discussed the challenges we face regarding future power supply for our membership. As some months have passed, I want to share a great new resource that will allow you to stay informed on those challenges and share your voice with legislators and policy decision makers.

Voices for Cooperative Power is a network of electric co-op members working together to influence elected officials who are making energy policy decisions that impact your co-op and, by extension, our way of life. I encourage you to visit the website or find them on social media to learn more about the current issues and how you can help shape future decisions.

One of those recent decisions was a new U.S. Environmental Protections Agency (EPA) rule issued in May that impacts energy production from power plants. The power plant rule will undoubtedly threaten access to reliable electricity for our local community and communities across the country.

The rule constrains existing coal and new natural gas plants by requiring them to install carbon capture and storage (CCS) — a technology that has potential, but has not been proven to be viable as required. No power plant in North America currently uses CCS at the scale and levels mandated by EPA. When power plants aren’t able to comply with EPA’s CCS requirements, they will be required to shut down, significantly limit operations, or switch fuels. These unrealistic standards will force the unnecessary and early shutdown of many power plants that currently provide reliable electricity 24/7.

Renewable sources, such as solar and wind, are important components of our overall generation mix and are already abundant in our area. But given the intermittent nature of these energy sources, we simply cannot depend on them because the wind doesn’t always blow and the sun doesn’t always shine.

The need for always-available power generating resources is still essential. The timing of the power plant rule is equally troubling. At the same time the EPA is leading our nation down the path to fewer power plants, utilities are facing a surge in electricity demand – driven by the onshoring of manufacturing, the growth of the American economy and the rapid expansion of data centers to support artificial intelligence, e-commerce and cryptocurrency.

We are joining electric co-ops across the country to fight these regulations, and we are working with our local elected officials to help them understand the consequences this would have on all North Carolinians.

Many states have already experienced power shortages, and if the supply of electricity is further threatened by the EPA’s power plant rule, the problem will only get worse. In fact, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), the nation’s electric reliability watchdog, recently forecasted that over the next five years, all or parts of 19 states are at high risk of rolling power outages during normal peak electricity demand conditions. NERC also stated recently that Energy Policy, not technology or fuel supply is one of the highest risk factors to future power supply reliability. We should not let policy decisions threaten our way of life.

It’s also no secret that when demand is high and supply is low, costs go up. We’re concerned about threats to reliability as well as cost increases to our members.

I don’t say all of this to worry you, but I do want our members to understand the challenges that lie ahead. Just as we’ve always done, we will look for solutions that serve our members best. We are joining electric co-ops across the country to fight these regulations, and we are working with our local elected officials to help them understand the consequences this would have on all North Carolinians.

Co-ops are no strangers to innovation, and we’re taking proactive steps to address today’s energy challenges and tomorrow’s energy needs. We’ve led the charge on industry endeavors such as community solar projects, and we’ll continue to explore new technologies and strategies that bolster reliability and our local grid.

Electric cooperatives like Halifax EMC deliver power to 42 million Americans. At the end of the day, our top priority is to meet our members’ energy needs, and we must have reliable electricity available to do that.