The following timely editorial,
titled “The Vepco Probe”, ap
peared in Sunday’s edition of The
Daily Advance:
It was the consumer anger that
really started the state’s in
vestigation of why Northeastern
North Carolina residents have to
pay so much more for electricity
thah those living in other parts of
the state.
And now, finally, the results of
the wide-ranging probe will be
unveiled tomorrow morning in
Raleigh before the North Carolina
Utilities Commission.
It was back in September when
die commission, under direction
from Governor Hunt, launched a
probe of Virginia Electric &
Power Co. to find out the reasons
their rates are so out of proportion
with those charged by Carolina
Power & light Co. and Duke
Power Co.
As widely reported, Vepco’s
rates to average residential
customers run 23 per cent more
than Carolina Power & Light and
36 per cent more than Duke Power
Co. That can mean a sizeable
amount of money for Albemarle
customers, particularly those on
fixed incomes.
So, with the report in all 405
pages of it —a considerable
amount of mud slinging can be
anticipated from just about all
parties involved. Vepco officials,
of course, will probably shoulder
most of the blame with charges of
mismanagement and errors in
judgment for hanging onto old
methods of generating power. And
most of the facts do point in their
direction.
Inevitably, charges of un
concern will be laid against the
utilities commission itself for
continuously granting Vepco its
rate requests without
blinking an eye. It will be difficult
for the commissioners to defend
their actions.
And perhaps some of our past
£(lmjnistrations will be linked to
the problem since they, like the
Tltntfiei'&Smmission, failed to see
what the increases were doing
financially to Northeastern North
Carolina residents.
But when all the blame is laid,
and the reasons for such high
utility rates finally determined,
let’s hope the Raleigh officials
won’t walk away and consider the
job done.
After all, the purpose for the
entire investigation was not so
much to lay blame but to bring
about some lower rates for
dwellers in the 22 northeastern
counties served by the Virginia
utility. Frankly, we are all getting
tired of the sometimes shockingly
high utility bills found in our
mailboxes.
The state utilities commission
and, indeed, all Raleigh officials
should be aware that the 68,000
North Carolina customers served
by Vepco will not be satisfied until
the rates are rolled back.
One Os Three
Edenton-Chowan Board of
Education made not one, but three
decisions at a special meeting
Friday night. The board members
were divided in favor of a motion
to seek a second school bond
referendum, unanimously favored
a plan to delay consolidation until
September, 1980, and divided
Continued on Page 4
Weyerhaeuser Meets Air, Water Standards
The Plymouth Mill Complex of
the Weyerhaeuser Company is hi
full compliance with all water and
air quality regulations. And a
spokesman says as the regulations
change the company will meet
them.
One change sure to come is
conversion from oil fired furnaces
back to coal. This will conclude the
full cycle, for Weyerhaeuser was
forced to spend millions of dollars
going from coal to oil.
Michael D. Swearingen, Jr,, a
public affairs representative,
•gys, the eonmany now {reduces
Mumt cent of the power necessary
to spends the complex. Still, the
eonauanv saw Veoco an average
Os Ao.ooo per month for elec
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Federal Action Sought Against Rates
WASHINGTON - A Nor
theastern North Carolina in
surrection against a Virginia
power company will move out of
state shortly as leaders of the
movement take their complaints
to the Feds.
Stanley Hege of Edenton said a
minimum roll-back of 25 per cent
in electric rates in this section of
the state is anticipated. “We
pledge not to drop the ball on this
thing until we ahchieve this goal,”
he added.
Hege predicted a lot of mud
slinging in the next few months.
This will begin following Monday’s
release of a study of Vepco the
most comprehensive study of its
kind ever done on a public utility
firm in North Carolina.
“Vepco will try to defend the
high rates under poor
management and the Utilities
THE CHOWAN HERALD
Volume XLIV. - No. 4
Jordan Consolidation Plan Approved
The “Jordan Plan” for con
solidation of Edenton-Chowan
Schools in September, 1980, was
unanimously adopted Friday
night. Additionally the school
board approved, by split votes,
calling another bond referendum
and an attempt to consolidate the
11th and 12th grades at Holmes
High School this fall.
Chairman Eugene Jordan
' jjSysk■ 9j iHLIS
ifja
BOARD MEMBERS RETIRE J. Gilliam Wood, second from
right, chairman of the board at Chowan Hospital and two other
members —Melvin Howell and W. Earl Smith recently rotated
off the board. They were recognized by hospital employees at a
reception where Smiley Weatherford, right, hospital director,
presented them with engraved plaques.
Expansion Funds OKed
Rep. Walter B. Jones of the First Congressional District has announced
the approval by Farmers Home Administration of a loan of $46,000 and a
grant of $312,000 to Chowan County for the purpose of building a water
system extension.
The loan would be repaid in 40 years at 5 per cent interest. Also, it
would be repaid from profits of the system with no county tax money
going into the project.
This extension, known as Phase II of the countywide water
Bystem, will serve additional users who could not be
reached in the previous phase of the project. The
project will cover the most feasible areas of the county, serving a total of
2,166 rural residents when completed.
Cost of the new project totals $630,000. State bond money as well as
some reserve funds already generated by the system will be added to the
FmHA loan and grant to provide sufficient funds for the budget.
Weyerhauser’s operation in
Martin County requires from 80
to 100-million gallons of water per
• day. It is drawn from the Roanoke
River.
Thecompanyrecently completed
a 1300-million expansion project,
most of it going into the Plymouth
complex. The complex now has
five giant paper machines in
operation, turning out items from
cardboard to fine paper.
The majority of the pulp used in
the process for fine paper
production comes from the
company’s operation near New
Bern. Id addition to other pulp, it
is processed in Plymouth where
Weyerhaeuser’s first recycling
process uptoSOOtoniofw^o^
Commission will try to defend
previous action allowing rate
increases,” he continued.
Hege noted that since 1974,
electric rates in Northeastern
North Carolina have increased 68
per cent. He charged that retired
families and others on fixed in
comes are being held up by Vepco.
Richard S. Coiner, chairman of
Operation Overcharge, a
movement started by Chambers of
Commerce in Northeastern North
Carolina to protest electric rates
being charged by Virginia Electric
Power Company (Vepco), made
the following statement Friday:
“Leaders of Operation Over
charge have met this week with
officials of Electricities to discuss
the concerns of the municipal
electric systems in our region over
the exorbitant wholesale rates
being charged them by Vepco and
Edenton, North Carolina; Thursday, January 25, 1979
presented his own plan following
discussion of other alternatives,
including the Curriculum Com
mittee’s option to consolidate the
top two grades. Mrs. Emily G.
Ambum successfully offered a
motion for a second bond
referendum.
Mrs. Ambum, Dr. Edward G.
Bond, Dr. J.H. Horton, and Cecil
W. Fry favored setting into motion
per day.
About one-half of the company’s
employees in North Carolina are
in Plymouth where there is a
payroll of S7O-million annually and
where another S2OO-million is
spent each year for goods and ser
vices.
The company owns some 60,000
acres of timberland in Eastern
North Carolina.
Swearingen boasts that at Ply
mouth the company has the most
modern and highly technical
fiber and paper facility in the
world.
While visitors to the facility are
well regulated, Swearhgen said
group tours can be arranged by .
Ms office.
passed on to their citizens using
electric power.
“We have informed the Elec
tricities officials that we have
asked Rep. Walter Jones to make
an appointment for us with the
Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission so that we can protest
the wholesale rate increases
granted to Vepco over the years.
What has happened, in effect, is
that the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission has
allowed Vepco to pass on the costs
of its poor management to its
customers rather than those costs
being borne by the company’s
stockholders. This is wrong and
we’re going to tell the Federal
officials that it’s wrong.”
Coiner went further to say today
that if the Vepco stockholders had
to pay costs of poor management
at the company that some new
people would be in certain jobs.
machinery for the bond
referendum as well as keeping
alive investigation of the
Curriculum Committee’s top
recommendation. Thomas Paul
Griffin and Wilbur Ray Bunch
voted against both motions.
Griffin commented: “Our No. 1
problem is that we are listening to
everyone and doing nothing.”
The Jordan Plan will con
solidate grades 7-8 and 9-12
countywide in September, 1980,
using existing buildings and
changing locations of other grades
as necessary, but keep grades K-6
in their home community.
The plan would not require
temporary classrooms. It could
require between SBO,OOO and
$90,000' over the next two budget
years. Funding of these per
manent repairs and renovations
would be included in the board’s
regular budget.
Jordan said his plan would not
require any additional funds for
buses because consolidation would
Statewide Vote Is Requested
Edenton-Chowan Board of
Education has adopted a
resolution asking the General
Assembly to call a statewide
school bond referendum for new
construction, equipment, addi
tions and laterations. No amount
of the referendum was mentioned
but a “sufficient amount to meet
the needs of 145 school units.”
A $3.5-million local referendum
was defeated in September, 1978,
It would have provided funds for a
new consolidated senior high
school in a rural setting.
The resolution, adopted un
animously, January 15 notes
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safe,,
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WEYERHAEUSER ’8 RECYCLING FACILITY - The secondary fiber facility, shown here, is
designed to recycle 300 tons of waste cardboard per day, which is processed as ftirnish pulp for two
Weyerhaeuser paper machines at Plymouth. The process is a hybrid of the state-of-the-art methods
in use in both Europe and America.
Coiner said the facts are quite
solid that Vepco is charging the
cities about 20 per cent more than
the highest priced North Carolina
power company charges the
municipalities it serves.
“It’s tragic,”he said, “that
Rate Reduction Will Cut
Municipal Costs $ 1.5-Million
RALEIGH Electricities of,
North Carolina announced here
Friday that it had reached ten
tative agreement with Virginia
Electric and Power Co. (Vepco)
for a reduction in the wholesale
electric rate Vepco is currently
charging to the municipal electric
systems ' the Electricities
association represents. Edenton is
among these cities.
Single Copies 15" Cents.
be spread out over two budget
years.
At a meeting Monday night of
last week the board deadlocked 3-3
over a plan which would have put
the Ninth Grade, countywide, at
Chowan High School. Jordan
declined to vote, saying he wanted
the board to get together. His plan
apparently accomplished this,
although the other two motions
were split.
The county commissioners
appeared at the special meeting
Friday, both speaking as private
citizens. Lester Copeland ap
pealed to the board not to split off
the Ninth Grade, and Alton G.
Elmore expressed the opinion that
a second bend referendum would
be approved.
Copeland said he is not opposed
to consolidation “so long as it is in
an ideal situation.” He said any
plan should put the children first.
He said there is no way that
consolidation can be achieved at
Continued on Page 4
that capital requirements exceed
what can be obtained in the local
budget. It stressed that the board
felt for the “proper improvement
and development of the school
system, it is necessary to con
struct a new comprehensive high
school to the end that a more
balanced curriculum may be
provided, as well as opportunities
for occupational education.”
Furthermore, the board feels
the necessary funds might be
advantageously obtained by a
statewide referendum in lieu of
attempting to raise such large sums
via ad valorem taxes.
North Carolina’s pobrest
economic region is having to pay
the highest electric rates.”
“If an out of state company is
going to come in here and charge
those kind of rates, we don’t need
them here,” Coiner emphasized.
The agreement will result in a
reduction in power costs to the
cities involved of more than $1.5-
million a year, said Ralph W.
Shaw, Electricities’ executive
director. The reduced rate
cannot go into effect until the
agreement is approved by the
Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission iFERC). That ap
proval is expected by late spring,
Shaw said. Friday’s agreement
will also require Vepco to refund
about sl-million the cities have
paid under the existing rate.
“The importance of this
agreement to our member
municipalities cannot be over
stated,” Shaw said. “Its effect will
be to reduce the wholesale rate
they pay Vepco to approximately
the level of Vepco’s North Carolina
retail industrial rate. TTie direct
effect of that is that our
municipalities will be able to
continue to compete with the
private power company for
customers.”
As its part of the agreement,
Electricities will not pursue the
Continued on Page 4
Jaycee DSA
Banquet Slated
For January 25
Edenton Jaycees each January
honor one of the community’s
most distinguished young persons
for outstanding achievement
during the past year. The
Distinguished Service Award is
presented to someone between the
ages of 18 and 35 who exhibits the
most meritorious service to his
family, community and nation.
The DSA is the highest award
Edenton Jaycees present an
nually.
The 1979 banquet will be held
January 25 at the Edenton Jaycee
Community Building on Base
Road. A steak dinner will be
served. The social hour begins at
6:30 o’clock.
Dist. Atty. Tom Watts of
Elizabeth City, will be the keynote
speaker. Watts has a distinguished
Jaycee background.
Those who desire banquet
tickets should call Bill Smith at
221-4031 or Woody Copeland at 482-
3509.
DSA nomination forms are at
Bank of North Carolina, Northside
Shopping Center; Peoples Bank,
Consumer Credit; Edenton-
Chowan Chamber of Commerce;
or by calling either Smith or
Copeland.