Electricity powers our lives. We depend on it for nearly everything we do. We also understand how frustrating it can be when you’re in the dark.

Power outages are never convenient. It takes a lot of hands to keep your power on, and even more hands to get it up and running when an outage occurs. Claiborne Electric Cooperative works hard to restore your electric service as soon as possible when outages occur, but there is a necessary order to the power restoration process to ensure that power is restored to members as quickly, and as safely, as possible.

After a major storm, our line crews must identify which infrastructure has incurred damage. Sometimes, transmission towers and lines can be damaged. Transmission lines deliver power to substations. Most of the transmission lines delivering power to Claiborne Electric’s substations are owned by a separate transmission company. If there is damage along these transmission lines, there is no power being delivered to our substations. Repairing damage to transmission lines is the first necessity when it comes to restoring power.

Next, damage must be assessed and repaired at Claiborne Electric’s substations. These substations serve thousands of members each. If the issue is isolated and can be resolved at the substation level, great! That means thousands of people can get their power restored at once.

At times, the issue cannot be isolated to one of our distribution substations. If that is the case, crews inspect supply lines between the substations and the meters they serve. If the supply lines can be repaired, power can be restored to the towns and homes those lines serve, as long as there is no damage to the tap lines.

Tap lines carry power to the transformers outside homes and other buildings. Line crews identify which damaged lines to work on first based on which lines can receive power, and which ones will restore power to the greatest number of members.

Sometimes, the service line between a member’s meter and the transformer is damaged. Have you ever lost power only to look next door and see the lights still blazing from your neighbor’s house? This is what we refer to as an individual or single outage. If this happens, report it so we know we have individual damage in the area that will require the attention of a line crew.

Power restoration can be a tricky business, so if you lose service, please remember the following:

• Stay clear of downed power lines. Contact with these lines could be life threatening.

• Report the outage by using our free SmartHub app or calling 1-855-937-1782 as soon as possible.

We appreciate your patience and cooperation whenever an outage occurs. For more information on outages stay connected to us through Facebook.

Click here to see a visual representation of how the Power Restoration Process works.

In late summer, we tend to see an increase in members who contact our office about the amount of their bill being higher than average.

As an electric cooperative, owned by the members we serve, we want to help our members understand everything possible about billing, usage, and energy efficiency. As a not-for-profit electric cooperative, our goal is to meet the needs of our members. One specific need for members is a thorough understanding of electric usage and billing.

Electric bills are a direct reflection of electric usage – the number of kilowatt-hours (kWh) used during that billing period. A kilowatt-hour is the unit of measurement used to calculate how much electric energy is used over time. One kWh equals 1,000 watts of electricity used for one hour. For example, using a 1,000-watt coffee maker for one hour is equal to one kWh of electric usage.

Electric meters measure usage. They track the number of kilowatt-hours a member uses in a billing period. As members use more electricity, the meter records that usage and bills increase because the number of kilowatt-hours increased. Similarly, as members use less electricity, bills decrease accordingly.

The reason some members’ bills are higher is because more kilowatt-hours were used. If bills are significantly higher than the previous month, that means significantly more kilowatt-hours were used in that billing period.

This summer, our service area is experiencing extreme temperatures, with high temperatures of more than 100 degrees and heat index numbers near 115 degrees. These days can prove difficult in many ways, and significantly higher electric usage is often a part of extreme temperatures.

During periods of intense heat, many factors result in higher monthly bills, but there are steps to take in order to curtail summer usage.

The first place to start is the thermostat. In almost every instance, heating and cooling represent the largest portion of a power bill. During extreme heat, air conditioners run for much longer periods of time. The recommended summer setting for a thermostat is 78 degrees. This setting can make a significant difference in an electric bill. The use of ceiling fans can make a room feel cooler and use a fraction of the energy of an HVAC system at a lower thermostat setting. Adding to a home’s insulation can also produce significant savings, and those savings last all year. Weather stripping and caulking around doors and windows can help keep cool air inside where it belongs. If possible, use heat producing appliances, like ovens and clothes dryers, in the early morning or late evening hours. This can help avoid adding heat to indoor air during the hottest part of the day.

We want to help our members conserve energy and keep bills reasonable. We offer a wide variety of energy efficiency materials to help members use energy wisely all year long. Visit our Energy Efficiency page to explore topics we can provide resources on.

Claiborne Electric is a not-for-profit electric utility. We’re committed to delivering reliable, cost-effective power to our members. We have a fantastic team of Member Service Representatives to help members understand their usage and billing. If members have questions about their bills, they should call our office (Homer: 318-927-3504 or Farmerville: 318-368-3011).

Please contact us with questions about billing, usage, and energy efficiency. We are here to help!

In the electric utility rate comparisons released by the Louisiana Public Service Commission (LPSC) for the month of July, Claiborne Electric has some of the lowest electric rates among all providers in the state.

In July, Claiborne Electric members using an average of 1,000 kWh per month were billed $135.19. In comparison, the same bill would be $140.15 for an Entergy customer, $164.60 for a SWEPCO customer, and $135.59 for a CLECO customer.

One kWh is equal to using 1,000 watts of electricity for 60 minutes. At Claiborne Electric, each kWh costs members about 13.5 cents. Claiborne Electric’s members are only paying a few cents more for a kWh of electricity than 20 years ago. In comparison, think about the cost of eggs, bread, coffee, medicine, gasoline, or a vehicle 20 years ago compared to today. Where other goods and necessities have doubled, tripled, or even more in price, electricity has held its value and remained similar in price per kWh for decades.

The cost per kilowatt-hour (kWh) of electricity has risen slower than any other household commodity for decades, making electricity an excellent household value. With electricity required for heating, cooling, lighting, cleaning, cooking, refrigeration, working, entertainment, transportation, and communication, there is barely a part of life that does not require electrification. We encourage members to remember the value electricity holds with each flip of a switch, press of a button, and charge of a phone. Claiborne Electric’s free SmartHub app is a great resource for monitoring electric usage.

At Claiborne Electric, we are always looking out for members by working to keep electric bills affordable and service reliable.

We want to help our members conserve energy and keep bills reasonable. We offer a wide variety of energy efficiency materials to help members use energy wisely all year long. Visit our Energy Efficiency page to explore topics we can provide resources on.

Claiborne Electric uses specialized contract companies to help complete parts of our annual construction and right-of-way maintenance program in an efficient and cost-effective manner.

Several of those companies are currently working throughout Claiborne Electric’s service territory on different projects. These workers are each doing important work to keep the cooperative functioning as safely and efficiently as possible. We ask members to be courteous and respectful as they come into contact with representatives of these contract companies.

Currently, Claiborne Electric has contractors working on projects in these areas:

• Good Hope will be working on right-of-way maintenance near Shongaloo and Ruston.
• Shelton Energy Solutions has multiple crews working on system upgrades throughout the Homer and Farmerville districts.
• LineTec Services has multiple crews working on system upgrades throughout the Homer and Farmerville districts.

If a member ever has questions about a vehicle or contractor representatives in their area, we ask them to contact their local Claiborne Electric office at (318) 927-3504 or (318) 368-3011.

Potential Claiborne Electric members now have the option to sign up for electric service online at www.our.coop.

Members have been requesting an online service connection option, and the project has been in the works for quite a while. Our theme for 2026 is Powering Progress, and an electronic connection option is one way we are keeping our promise to make Claiborne Electric a modern, progressive utility in this digital age.

Our goal is to be known as one of the most progressive utilities in the state, and we believe 2026 will be a benchmark year for the Cooperative as it continues working towards streamlined processes that work better and faster for our members.

Our website has been updated with the new online sign-up forms, and it’s already a popular page. This feature is for existing services that have been previously served by Claiborne Electric. Check out this new feature here!

A Message from Claiborne Electric’s General Manager & CEO:

As your electric cooperative, Claiborne Electric Cooperative, Inc. (“Cooperative” or “Claiborne”) is committed to providing safe, reliable electric service every day.  We know how disruptive power outages can be, and we understand the frustration many of our members served from the Crossroads Substation have experienced over the past several weeks. If it seems like your power has been interrupted more often than usual lately, you’re right.  During the last 60 days alone, the Crossroads Substation has lost its incoming transmission supply more times than it did during the entire five-year period from 2021 through 2025. That level of disruption is unacceptable, and we want to explain what has been happening and what is being done to address it.

I am writing today to share with you what has caused the outages at Crossroads Substation over the last two months and what steps the Cooperative is taking to resolve the situation.  Claiborne has twenty distribution substations in service to meet the needs of its members across our six-parish service territory.  Each substation receives power through subtransmission or transmission lines operating at voltages from 34.5 to 115 kV. The transmission line serving the Crossroads Substation is a 34.5kV line that is owned, operated, and maintained by our regional transmission provider, not Claiborne.

When outages occur on facilities owned by the Cooperative, our crews respond immediately to identify the problem and restore service as quickly as possible. In this case, however, the outages have occurred on subtransmission facilities that are owned, operated, and maintained by the transmission provider. Because the Cooperative does not own or control those facilities, only the transmission provider’s personnel can perform the repairs or switching necessary to restore the transmission supply. Although the underlying cause is outside of our direct control, we recognize that distinction offers little comfort when you’re waiting for the lights to come back on.

Our staff has been in regular communication with the transmission provider and has provided detailed outage information with its senior management. They have acknowledged that the frequency of these outages is unacceptable and are evaluating corrective measures to improve the reliability of service to the Crossroads Substation and other substations served from this transmission system.

Please know that we will continue to press for a permanent solution and advocate for our members until these reliability issues are addressed. As we receive additional information about the transmission provider’s mitigation plan and implementation schedule, we will share those updates with you.

Thank you for your patience, your understanding, and your continued confidence in Claiborne Electric Cooperative. We value the trust you place in us and remain committed to doing everything within our authority to provide the reliable electric service you expect and deserve.

Sincerely,

Michael Marcotte

General Manager & CEO

Claiborne Electric Cooperative, Inc.