firstly: read this super-smart whitepaper: http://gettingsmarteraboutthesmartgrid.org/pdf/SmartGrid_Report_PDF-2012–11-26-Final.pdf

then, start get­ting ready for 2013

Help­ing KIUC become a bet­ter co-op.

Aloha, E komo mai.

Wel­come to the begin­ning of A New KIUC! 2012 is almost over.  The Direc­tors have been busy for almost a year.  What have they done?

Below is a list, of what we asked for of 30-odd items, gath­ered from the com­mu­nity dur­ing the elec­tion.  What has the board delivered?

KIUC is a Coop­er­a­tive.  The Board works for all of us.  You are KIUC!

TO DO LIST FOR THE 2012 KIUC BOD

A:  BRING ELECTRICAL COSTS DOWN FOR WORKING FAMILIES

• 1 Expand assis­tance to eco­nom­i­cally vul­ner­a­ble households
• 2 Cre­ate Con­ser­va­tion & Effi­ciency Teams to bring bills down
• 3 Intro­duce steeply tiered rates to reward con­ser­va­tion w/savings, in a way that does not hurt local, work­ing class families.
• 4 Offer In-Home Dis­play “Dash­boards” to all. Infor­ma­tion = Power!
• 5 Goal of solar hot-water on >90% of all roofs within decade
• 6 Pass sav­ings to Mem­bers by reduc­ing extrav­a­gant overhead
• more ideas?
• 
  

B:  MAKE KIUC A MORE COOPERATIVE CO-OP

• 1Get new Legal Coun­cil that sup­ports coop­er­a­tive action
• 2 Cre­ate & Hire a new Coop­er­a­tive Involve­ment Department
• 3 Offer incen­tives to vote — Goal: dou­ble the turnout in 5 years
• 4 Recom­mit to demo­c­ra­tic pol­icy of One Per­son, One Vote
• 5 Expand mem­ber­ship — offer to all adult Kaua‘i residents
• 6 Invest in Smart Mem­bers - edu­cate to engage in coop process
• 7 Safe­guard fair debate w/ Co-op resources in Spe­cial Elections
• 8 Get new CEO & Pres­i­dent that under­stands & sup­ports coops
• 9 New lead­er­ship on the BOD that under­stands & sup­ports coops
• your ideas?
• 
  

C:  DEVELOP A SMART POLICY FOR SMART METERS

• 1 Work with, not against the mem­ber­ship and community
• 2 Ensure the meter installer respects the wishes of residents
• 3 Apol­o­gize & Re-install ana­log meters for those who wish
• 4 Pro­vide a sim­ple, easy, no-cost way for mem­bers to Opt-OUT
• 5 Pro­vide a WIRED meter option for mem­bers to Opt-IN
• 6 Pro­vide ana­log meter com­pat­i­ble Home Dis­play for all who wish
• more ideas?

D:  OPEN UP BOARD POLICIES

• 1 Make the 7 Co-operative prin­ci­ples bind­ing on KIUC policy
• 2 Revise pol­icy 1 — expand  trans­parency to community
• 3 Revise pol­icy 16 — pro­vide com­plete min­utes for all BOD meetings
• 4 Make online video record­ing of All BOD meet­ings for review
• 5 Make Roll-call stan­dard for all votes, on-line avail­able for review
• 6 Revise pol­icy 18 — fur­ther expand directorʻs abil­ity to speak freely
•  your ideas?
• 
  

E:  RE-CONCEIVING KIUCʻs  ENERGY MISSION & STRATEGIC GOALS

• 1 New Energy Pol­icy — Reduduc­tion: Make Less & Use Less
• 2 Goal: reduce typ­i­cal daily peak load to below 50 Mw by 2020
• 3 New busi­ness model to fos­ter the right-sizing of KIUC
• 4 Keep max­i­mum energy $ʻs on-island & inside local economy
• 5 Include cre­ation of living-wage energy jobs on-island in plan
• 6 Increase strate­gic coop­er­a­tion w/County to cre­ate more savings
• 7 Goal: >90% sus­tain­able local energy pro­duc­tion by 2032
• more ideas?

Now that you have read down the evolv­ing ‘To Do’ list, reflect and pon­der — which are the most crit­i­cal? What items don’t seem most press­ing and impor­tant to you? Is there any­thing here you dis­agree with?

Your feed­back to the above ques­tions, and your par­tic­i­pa­tion is vital in help­ing these changes become addressed & adopted by the board.

Through your efforts and oth­ers, our com­mu­nity will become a mighty force for change on Kauaʻi. There is a ris­ing desire for real change to begin at KIUC, as artic­u­lated by the broader com­mu­nity, and voted for by mem­bers of KIUC. Help P2P help the direc­tors get it right for Kaua‘i.

Begin to build a bet­ter co-op.

SMART METER ACTION ALERT

KIUC has a new “Advanced Meter Instal­la­tion Defer­ment Form”.  Soon, they will send them out. P2P strongly urges you NOT to sign it — as is.

Why?  ʻA defer­ment, that sounds good — that means they wonʻt install it, right?  No.  Hereʻs why: A deferred install­ment is still an install­ment, just down the road at some vague future time.   !f you agree to a “deferred install­ment,” ʻdeferʻ is the mod­i­fier, ʻinstall­mentʻ is the mod­i­fied.  What kind of install­ment?  A deferred one.  Do you want to agree to an install­ment?  If your answer is yes, sign it!  Adam Asquith rec­om­mends you make your own “NO smart meter” box, then check it.  That is one quick & dirty way — P2P went one step fur­ther — a whole new form that says what you want!

If what you want is to actu­ally tell to your hard-working KIUC staff, that you do NOT want a ʻSmart Meter,  not now or ever, & do not want to be billed or fined for refus­ing to have one installed, then take a look at the P2P  “Advanced Meter Instal­la­tion REJECTION Form” click here to down­load the PDF document: p2pkiuc AMI Reject form.

Some have asked, will KIUC “accept” this alter­na­tive form? You would think so, but… they accept let­ters donʻt they?  Sure they do — why wouldnʻt they  accept this impor­tant infor­ma­tion from their Mem­bers?  This infor­ma­tion is com­ing to them in exactly the for­mat they have requested, only now the legal coun­cil of KIUC is not lim­it­ing & deter­min­ing what you are say­ing,   The point of this let­ter is to clearly com­mu­ni­cate to your KIUC staff and emply­ees that you do not approve of the defer­ral they are offer­ing,  and what you would instead like them to do.  Clear com­mu­ni­ca­tion. Kaua‘i will thank you for this!

Even if you your­self are OK with a Smart Meter at your house, you can still sup­port your fel­low Kaua‘i res­i­dents who want to make their own choices – just like you did! Let the KIUC staff know this is how you want your Co-op to co-operate within the com­mu­nity! Clear com­mu­ni­ca­tion like this is a great way to help move our Co-op for­ward. IMUA!

If after a care­ful read of the doc­u­ment, you find you agree, sign it, and send it in!  Please give P2P heads-up, so we can keep a rough count of how many of these rejec­tion let­ters KIUC is get­ting.  In this way you and other mem­bers shall shape the way KIUC acts, & will help our Co-op mature into a bet­ter neigh­bor, a bet­ter util­ity, and a bet­ter Co-op… cuz, gosh darn it — they can stand mil­lions of gal­lons of improvement!

IMUA!

PLEASE LET P2P KNOW YOU SENT THIS IN: !

MAHALO!

Not Accept­ing Your Rejection

An Un-Co-operative Play in 1 Act

Three Real Emails with No Jok­ing Around

Which brings us back to real­ity.  So, what wacky way are they choos­ing to respond to clear com­mu­ni­ca­tion from the Com­mu­nity & Members?

EMAIL # 1: The Mem­ber Expresses a Choice:

EMAIL # 2: The KIUC BORG Refuses to Listen:

Aloha (Name with-held),

At this time, KIUC has not made a final deci­sion as whether or not an Opt Out Pro­gram for Smart Meters will be offered. If you wish to par­tic­i­pate in the Delayed Instal­la­tion Pro­gram please com­plete the form avail­able on our web­site, www.kiuc.coop, on the Smart Meter Instal­la­tion page.

We are not accept­ing the Peo­ple to Peo­ple (SIC) Opt Out Forms.

Mahalo

KIUC

malama pono,

Power to the Peo­ple Kaua‘i

pre­vi­ously on P2P…

THE ELECTION IS PAU — WHAT NOW?

Now the elec­tion is done, the new ʻwork­ersʻ (direc­tors) have been elected onto the team by the Full Co-op Mem­ber­ship.   Now the real work must begin in earnest.  So, what does the boss want done?  Who is the boss?

The bosses — that means YOU KIUC MEMBER/OWNERS and the broader Com­mu­nity the Co-op serves — should be very atten­tive to what your old & new hires on the BOD are doing.  In fact, you might want to give them some DIRECTION.  ;)

What should the Board do?  YOU are the Boss!

If you want some­thing done, YOU had bet­ter tell em what that is.   You gotta let­tem know!  To play a help­ful role in this ini­ti­at­ing this com­mu­nity dia­log, P2P is now solic­it­ing input from YOU & the entire com­mu­nity of Kaua‘i, by ask­ing: What do you want the 2012 KIUC BOD to do?

WHAT TO DO?

A ʻTo Doʻ list is being assem­bled hun­dreds of Com­mu­nity and Co-op Mem­bers..  You can check it out here, and add your two cents to make sure they know what YOU expect from THEM.  It takes an island!

Thanks to the par­tic­i­pa­tion & sup­port from peo­ple just like you, Power to the Peo­ple Kaua‘i was able to have a pos­i­tive impact on the elec­tion.  If you think P2P is head­ing in a strong direc­tion, and would like to see fur­ther progress made, con­sider mak­ing a sound invest­ment in a brighter, more demo­c­ra­tic energy future for Kaua‘i, by donat­ing to P2P.

For the rest of this year — until it becomes elec­tion time again — , it sure would be great if P2P can con­tinue to build upon the great foun­da­tion already begun.  If you chip in & help grow the P2P bud­get, we will be out in greater force across the island in the months ahead:  tabling at farm­ers mar­kets, & com­mu­nity events to inform & build mem­ber­ship, regu­larly attend , tes­tify & report on the monthly KIUC Direc­tor meetings, via a monthly newslet­ter &  hold our coop­ertively elected offi­cials accountable.

With your sup­port, P2P will con­tinue to shine the light on how Kaua‘i can become truly sus­tain­able with com­mu­nity sup­ported,  demo­c­ra­t­i­cally dri­ven deci­sion mak­ing, and an sound energy pol­icy that keeps our money on Kaua‘i and pro­tects and restores our island home. If any of this sounds good to you, check out our Pay­Pal link below.  Itʻ s fast, easy & secure.

Spe­cial Request:  P2P is con­sid­er­ing hold­ing a pub­lic screen­ing of ʻPower Tripʻ a fas­ci­nat­ing doc­u­men­tary about a power com­pany with even more prob­lems than KIUC!  This film is sad, inspi­ra­tional and quite hilar­i­ous.  If you have gear (DVD pro­jec­tor or out­door screen­ing sur­face or can assist/coördinate in putting this together, please con­tact P2P via email.  mahalo!

pre­vi­ously on the P2P frontpage…

VOTERS BRING NEW MAJORITY TO KIUC BOD

 click here to get engaged and help build a bet­ter co-op!

In 2012, KIUC vot­ers have made their views clear — Kaua‘i wants to build a bet­ter Co-op.   ALL THREE of the newly elected Direc­tors sup­port an Opt-OUT pol­icy for “Smart” Meters.

Image a Co-op that does not try to make itʻs Mem­bers do things they donʻt want to!   Well, you donʻt have to imag­ine — itʻs is what we voted for!  With the addi­tion of any two of the exist­ing Direc­tors, a new major­ity of our elected direc­tors will be in agree­ment to direct the Staff and Man­age­ment of KIUC to work in coop­er­a­tion with the Mem­bers.

What else might the new BOD dis­cover there is a major­ity of sup­port?   Click here to review a grow­ing inter­ac­tive ʻTo Doʻ list for the KIUC Direc­tors in 2012 .

It has been a long time com­ing in our fledg­ling 10-year-old Co-op, but this could be the begin­ning of some­thing very big on Kaua‘i — This is how democ­racy looks like! Con­grat­u­la­tions to every­one who par­tic­i­pated in this election!This will be a sea-change from the pre­vi­ous Bissel-led & board-supported posi­tion of “like it or lump it” on the RF-emitting so-called “Smart­Meters”, but this is only just the begin­ning.  What other pos­i­tive changes would you like to see at KIUC?

Now, with an emer­gent  “New Major­ity” on the BOD, per­haps a new era of com­mu­nity coop­er­a­tion vs. cor­po­rate antag­o­nism shall begin where KIUC begins to work with the mem­bers, com­mu­nity and island of Kaua‘i. Way to get out there and VOTE, Kaua‘i!  When Kaua‘i speaks clearly, change is just around the cor­ner!  Get­ting three new Direc­tors on the board was only just the begin­ning.  But before we move for­ward, letʻs take a look at the big­ger pic­ture & make sure we under­stand how we got here, and where we are in  the process of change at KIUC.

click here to turn that cor­ner & build a bet­ter co-op!

With 7,145 valid bal­lots sub­mit­ted, and the largest field of can­di­dates eve run­ning for office, 2012 was the third largest voter turnout in a KIUC Board of Direc­tor elec­tion in the his­tory of the Co-op, and saw an increase of 15.4% over last year.  Almost 1,000 new vot­ers!  Not bad, Kaua‘i!  Way to get out there and build a bet­ter Co-op!

Below is a “Rough Gues­ti­mate ” for the New Voters

Donʻt make the mis­take of think­ing we can turn the Co-op around in only one elec­tion cycle after a decade of drift.  But letʻs take a closer look at what just did, and did not hap­pen.  We will need to under­stand this for next yearʻs election!

see the value in what we helped bring about?  Plug into P2P, Kaua‘i!

Below are the actual results — Our actions have consequence!

click here to get involved and help build a bet­ter co-op!

Con­grat­u­la­tions to ALL NINE of the can­di­dates, as each and every one of you ran good clean cam­paigns, and brought forth the issues you felt were the most impor­tant to help build a bet­ter co-op.  This is what democ­racy should look like!  Way to dia­log!  P2P rec­og­nizes the ser­vice and ded­i­ca­tion of out­go­ing Direc­tors Stu Bur­ley and Steve Rapozo.  Mahalo for your time and energy!

A spe­cial P2P nod of the hat to vet­eran ʻSus­tain­abil­ity Guruʻ Ken Stokes who this year came within less than 200 votes of tak­ing a seat, and rookie cam­paigner Com­mu­nity Organzer Joel Guy who ran a very strong race despite being flat on his back for two weeks at the height of it all.  Stay engaged, fel­lahs — Kaua‘i needs your lead­er­ship and passion!

And here is an impor­tant mes­sage for all you folks out there who are a bit dis­ap­pointed that we “only” got 2 out of the 3 open seats:  Be Patient!  Rome, as they say, did not burn in one day!  Our Co-op is less than 10 years old.  For the first 4 years, we had NO com­mu­ni­tar­ian Direc­tors on the board.  Where we are today is NOT as a result of just our efforts alone, but result from 6 years of steady progress.  Are we where we want to be yet?  No WAY!  But we are knock­ing on the door, and with YOUR con­tin­ued effort and involve­ment, we will build a bet­ter co-op!

Finally, con­grat­u­la­tions are in order to Karen Baldwin, Calvin Murashige and Pat Gegen who were the top three vote get­ters.  Along with sit­ting Direc­tors Carol Bain,  Jan TenBruggencate, Allen Smith, Peter Yukimura, David Iha, and Chair­Te­ofilo Tacbian, they now share the co-responsibility to bring the membershipʻs vision of a Elec­tri­cal Coop­er­a­tive into reality.

click here to help cre­ate a bet­ter vision of our co-op!

P2P wel­comes the new Direc­tors onto the Board, and encour­ages the exist­ing Direc­tors to work together and with the com­mu­nity for the ben­e­fit of the island and her peo­ples.   May the new BOD work stead­fastly to help build a new KIUC that is more afford­able, more demo­c­ra­tic, more open, more trans­par­ent, more sus­tain­able both envi­ron­men­tally and eco­nom­i­cally, and works in a bet­ter spirit of coop­er­a­tion with the mem­bers and the com­mu­ni­ties on Kaua‘i in the year ahead.  Imua for a bet­ter co-op!

Plug into P2P!

CLICK HERE TO GO STRAIGHT TO CANDIDATE & VOTING INFORMATION

KIUC BOD FAQ:  8 Good Things to Know

Why Peo­ple Donʻt Vote?

1.  Some peo­ple are too busy with their lives…

Hey, life IS busy, and maybe you donʻt have time to go to all the KIUC meet­ings or be an energy activist to research all the issues.  But thatʻs OK — you donʻt have to!  P2P is already doing for you!

If you are in a real rush, and you just want the crit­i­cal info, go here:

CLICK HERE TO GO STRAIGHT TO CANDIDATE & VOTING INFORMATION

In less than 10 min­utes on this site, and 5 min­utes vot­ing online (direct links for secure vot­ing pro­vided onsite), OR by phone OR by good old-fashioned snail-mail, and you will have done your duty for KIUC, and helped bring Kaua‘i one step closer to a brighter energy future!

Still feel­ing fresh?  Still got game?   Want to help oth­ers vote too?  AWESOME!  Visit:   www.p2pKauai.org/plug-into-p2p/

2.  Some peo­ple donʻt know what a Coop­er­a­tive is…

A coop­er­a­tive is a big hui, where every­one who uses the ser­vice (in KIUCʻs case: elec­tric­ity) can become a mem­ber if they choose, obtain a vote, and par­tic­i­pate in the func­tion­ing of the Coop­er­a­tive. In a ʻcoop,ʻ mem­bers deter­mine the over­all direc­tion.  Direc­tors help, and the staff getʻs it done.

CLICK HERE TO GO STRAIGHT TO CANDIDATE & VOTING INFORMATION

3.  Some peo­ple donʻt know there is an election…

Every year since 2002 when KIUC, a Coop­er­a­tive, took over from KE, a pri­vate for-profit cor­po­ra­tion, there is an annual elec­tion where the full mem­ber­ship votes to select 3 new Direc­tors.  This year, the bal­lots went out two weeks ago, and have shown up in your mail­box by now.  If you have not received your bal­lot yet, or did but it is lost — Call KIUC ASAP so you can get your unique bal­lot access  code that will allow you to vote. The dead­line for vot­ing is Sat­ur­day, March 24th at NOON sharp!

CLICK HERE TO GO STRAIGHT TO CANDIDATE & VOTING INFORMATION

4.  Some peo­ple donʻt know what they are vot­ing for…

At each annual KIUC Board of Direc­tors Elec­tion, 3 new direc­tors are elected by the full mem­ber­ship to serve on a 9 per­son board.  Each directorʻs term is 3 years.  Every year 1/3 of the board is replaced, and over the course of 3 years, the entire  board can be rotated out by the membership.

CLICK HERE TO GO STRAIGHT TO CANDIDATE & VOTING INFORMATION

5.  Some peo­ple donʻt know what the direc­tors do…

The 2nd (of 7) coop­er­a­tive prin­ci­ples states “Co-operatives are demo­c­ra­tic orga­ni­za­tions con­trolled by their mem­bers, who actively par­tic­i­pate in set­ting their poli­cies and mak­ing decisions.”

This means, unlike a in rep­re­sen­ta­tive democ­racy, where your elected offi­cials rep­re­sent you, Direc­tors in a coop have a dif­fer­ent role.  They are NOT your rep­re­sen­ta­tives — they job is to help you actively par­tic­i­pate in the oper­a­tion of the Coop. Thus, Direc­tors work for you, and serve to ensure the the Coop is gen­er­ally pointed in the direc­tion the full mem­ber­ship desires.  But that is not what we have been see­ing of late.

If mem­ber­ship does not approve of the over­sight actions by the Direc­tors, as mem­bers you may (by peti­tion) take mat­ters directly into your own hands, and have the full mem­ber­ship re-decide a mat­ter by  spe­cial election.

CLICK HERE TO GO STRAIGHT TO CANDIDATE & VOTING INFORMATION

6.  Some peo­ple donʻt know how to vote…

Vot­ing in the KIUC elec­tion is fast, sim­ple, and easy AND you have options on the way you can choose to vote, by: A) mail in your bal­lot B) vote online C) vote over touch­tone phone.  This year,the dead­line to sub­mit your bal­lot is March 24 at NOON sharp.

CLICK HERE TO GO STRAIGHT TO CANDIDATE & VOTING INFORMATION

7.  Some peo­ple donʻt think their 3 votes matter…

Your Votes absolutely DO mat­ter — if you donʻt vote, the Coop drifts… when we we snooze, we lose.   By vot­ing, you help deter­mine the bal­ance of the board, and the basic direc­tion of the Coop.  Presently there is a major­ity on the Board that believe they have the right to make multi-million dol­lar strate­gic choices for you, and the whole island of Kaua‘i, with­out going to the com­mu­nity first,  and ask­ing you!  If this is OK with you, then do noth­ing, and they will con­tinue.  If you want this to change, then your vote is vital!  But you must cast your votes for change to begin!

CLICK HERE TO GO STRAIGHT TO CANDIDATE & VOTING INFORMATION

8.  Some peo­ple donʻt think there is any­one worth vot­ing for…

No mat­ter what your view of KIUCʻs per­for­mance over the years, there are some can­di­dates who will change KIUC in dra­matic ways.  If you want change, there are peo­ple for you!  If you no like change, there are peo­ple run­ning who will keep every­thing the way it is. If you like burn trash and have nuclear power on Kaua‘i, there is even some­one for you! This year, no mat­ter what your views, there are many excel­lent choices.

CLICK HERE TO GO STRAIGHT TO CANDIDATE & VOTING INFORMATION

_____________

 To find our more infor­ma­tion on how YOU can play a more active role in boost­ing over­all mem­ber and com­mu­nity par­tic­i­pa­tion in the 2012 KIUC Board of Direc­tors Elec­tion visit:

www.p2pKauai.org/plug-into-p2p/

Thanks so much for your help! The more peo­ple vote in the KIUC BOD Elec­tion, the bet­ter the Coop will serve the inter­ests of the mem­bers & the entire com­mu­nity of Kaua‘i. Mahalo nui loa for all you do! Now get out there and vote, and encour­age other to too!

A Story We are Telling from Inside the Tale

Once upon a time, hard­work­ing local peo­ple on a small island in the mid­dle of the pacific ocean bailed out a fail­ing pri­vate elec­tri­cal cor­po­ra­tion, con­vert­ing it into a community-owned coop­er­a­tive… or so they thought.

Still their elec­tric prices rose, and still they could not fig­ure out why they were pay­ing top dol­lar for their elec­tric­ity, but receiv­ing the run-around from the folks they had appointed to run their elec­tri­cal coop­er­a­tive.  Who was work­ing for whom?  So they began to look into “their” co-op.

Rather than pro­vide clean, sus­tain­able energy at an afford­able price to the com­mu­nity mem­bers who col­lec­tively own it, this Community-Owned Coop was still being run like a Privately-Owned-Business, by man­agers and direc­tors who felt they could do what­ever they wanted — with the com­pany… and no one had stopped them yet:

When major pol­icy choices faced the Coop — like FERC Hydro, or “Smart Meters” — instead of going to the com­mu­nity FIRST to seek direc­tion from the peo­ple, the CEO and a major­ity of incum­bent direc­tors made the choices them­selves, spent mil­lions of the peo­ples money, then cir­cled the wag­ons to insu­late them­selves from the com­mu­nity. Awe!

How­ever, these peo­ple were aka­mai! (very smart)  They hui-ed up (joined together) to return power to the peo­ple!  They ho‘olaulima (worked together), with lots of cre­ativ­ity and aloha (warm spirit of love, respect, and affec­tion), both renew­able, local resources!.   They formed a pow­er­ful com­mu­nity orga­ni­za­tion, and through the demo­c­ra­tic power of the bal­lot box, elected a new major­ity to the board of direc­tors and finally gained oper­at­ing con­trol and finan­cial own­er­ship of the island util­ity coop­er­a­tive.  Hurray!

Power to the Peo­ple Kaua‘i  is the story of how Kaua‘i get­ter done.

Plug into P2P