As we celebrate National Cooperative Month this October, it’s a perfect time to reflect on the core values of 4 Rivers and our commitment to serving you, our members. One of the most critical aspects of this service is ensuring reliable power, even in the face of challenges. Outages are no fun for anyone. At 4 Rivers, we take proactive steps to minimize outages as much as possible. Our right-of-way maintenance program involves trimming, cutting and spraying trees to prevent them from contacting power lines, which reduces the risk of outages and line loss. We also perform pole testing to ensure the strength and durability of the 85,000 poles we maintain. Poles that have weakened over time are identified and replaced by our dedicated line crews, ensuring that we stay ahead of potential issues, especially during extreme weather. Each year, we aim to inspect 100% of our 4,018 miles of overhead and underground lines and facilities, which is another key piece of the reliability puzzle. And, of course, our highly trained crews are always on the lookout for maintenance needs that can be addressed before they result in an outage.
We also encourage you, our members, to alert us to any concerns you see in the field. Your involvement strengthens our cooperative spirit and allows us to proactively resolve potential issues. Despite all these efforts, outages do occur. In 2023, our members experienced an average of 244 minutes of outage time. This was largely due to unavoidable factors:
54 MINUTES — transmission provider issues.
2 MINUTES — planned outages.
188 MINUTES — weather-related, caused by thunderstorms, high winds and ice storms.
The unpredictability of Kansas weather is a constant challenge, contributing to most of our outage minutes. Other causes include vehicle and farm equipment accidents, as well as interference from wildlife. Years of exposure to harsh weather conditions like sun, wind and cold gradually weaken our infrastructure, which is why we place such high importance on our maintenance programs. These efforts represent our dedication to maintaining a reliable, resilient system for all our members. 4 Rivers is committed to delivering reliable service despite the many challenges we face, especially from ol’ mother nature and Kansas’ unpredictable climate.
During National Cooperative Month, it’s important to remember that reliability isn’t just about keeping the lights on — it’s about living our cooperative principles of dedication, community and member focus. With that in mind, please join us at one of our fall community tailgate events. We’ll be serving hot dogs, chips and water before the football games until kickoff. We enjoy visiting with our members during these Co-op Month activities and hope to see you there. If you have any questions or concerns about your service, power quality, or anything else, please reach out. We’re here to serve you and improve our cooperative community, together.