Claiborne Electric is currently conducting a major service upgrade project for members in northeast Bienville Parish.   

Crews are working to replace equipment that has reached the end of its useful life due to time and age. This initial 4-mile project will replace all poles, wire, and insulators for members near Driskill Mountain.

As part of this first project: more than 80 poles will be changed and replaced with larger class poles and all wire is being changed to new, larger sized wire. This complete upgrade will result in a system that is better strengthened against harsh weather conditions. The project will also provide increased load capacity for these members. The total result will be increased reliability and better service.

“The equipment being replaced has reached the end of its lifespan,” said Claiborne Electric General Manager and CEO Michael Marcotte. “This equipment is outside in the elements and is constantly subjected to Louisiana weather conditions. This upgrade project will mean better, more reliable service for our members in the area, and that is always our goal.” 

Contract crews will be working for several more weeks on the project, which is expected to be complete this fall.  

Claiborne Electric Cooperative has begun construction of a major reliability improvement project to re-clear the existing rights-of-way and rebuild the existing primary lines and poles in Farmerville’s James Avenue area.

This dedicated effort will reduce outages and enhance the reliability of electric service for members throughout the James Addition.

Construction began on Monday, July 14, 2025, and is expected to be completed by Friday, August 29, 2025.  Work will take place weekdays (Monday – Thursday) from 7:00 AM to 4:00 PM along James Avenue including the adjacent side streets.

During the construction period, members may experience temporary planned outages. Advance notices will be provided three days before each outage. Traffic around the work zone may involve lane closures and daytime noise from heavy equipment should be expected. We recommend that members charge essential devices before scheduled outages, follow posted detour signs, reduce speed in work zones, and contact our member services team with any outage-related questions.

We appreciate your patience and support as Claiborne works to ensure the most reliable electric service possible.

In mid-August, Claiborne Electric will begin using a new telephone system.

After the new system is implemented, members who call the office will choose from a menu of options, which will help direct calls to the appropriate place. Members will still be able to speak with a live Member Services Representative in a local office by pressing the “0” key on their phone.

One major change within the new telephone system is that MSRs will no longer be able to take payments by telephone. Members may make payments by telephone through an automated payment system by pressing “1” in the new telephone menu. Members will enter a Claiborne Electric account number and follow the automated prompts to make a payment in the new phone system. The new system protects personal and financial information.

As always, members may still make payments using a wide variety of methods, including in-person, by mail, through our free SmartHub app, online at www.our.coop, by automatic bank draft, or through payment systems at locations such as Wal-Mart, CVS, Dollar General, and Family Dollar. Payment options can be reviewed here.

Members may also report an outage by pressing “2” in the new system. This will allow members to report the outage directly to the dispatch center’s outage system.

Since January, we have been discussing resiliency and storm recovery planning through the use of an Emergency Reserve Fund, which will go into effect in the coming weeks.

As residents of north Louisiana, we all understand the year-round threat of extreme, damaging storms. Tornadoes, straight-line winds, tropical storms, ice storms, and even the occasional hurricane can cause millions of dollars in damage in a single day. As much as we wish we could control the weather and keep storms at bay, we know future harmful storms are inevitable.

In August of 2020, Hurricane Laura arrived in our service area as a category 1 hurricane and caused nearly $5.4 million in damage. We borrowed money to pay for that damage to our system, and we paid more than $237,000 in interest on that borrowed money.

Part of operating under the cooperative business model is that Claiborne Electric is not-for-profit. We only collect what is necessary to run the Co-op. We don’t have investors or shareholders; we are completely owned by and obligated to the members we serve. Each member pays their share of purchased power, along with the cost of operating and maintaining the Co-op each month.

When we borrow money after the fact to pay for storm recovery, there is a significant interest component in repaying those loans. That interest, like all costs of the Co-op, is eventually paid by every member along Claiborne Electric’s lines. Those costs end up in the rate you pay for electricity. Building an Emergency Reserve Fund will eliminate these interest charges and significantly reduce or eliminate our reliance on borrowed funds for storm recovery efforts.

In the next few weeks, members will see a line item on bills for this fund. The line item will be listed as Emergency Reserve Fund. For all residential accounts, members will contribute $2.50 per month. Small General Service accounts will contribute $5.00 per month, and Large General Service accounts will contribute $50.00 per month. The fund is not set up to be a permanent charge. The fund is set up to build slowly for 42 months, or until it reaches $3 million.

The current fund balance, along with any use of the funds from the previous year, will be stated in the Annual Report, which is distributed to members at the Annual Membership Meeting and made available on the Co-op’s website.

An Emergency Reserve Fund is an efficient way for members to jointly contribute to a fund that will provide a source of emergency funding when a storm happens. Ultimately, this fund will save members money and keep rates low by eliminating borrowed money and the interest associated with storm loans.

Planning for storms in advance and having a resiliency plan in place makes the Cooperative stronger and more prepared when inevitable storms occur. We believe this fund will help us responsibly deliver the best possible service to you, our members.

Some of our members (don’t worry – we won’t point anyone out) remember the days when penny candy actually cost a penny. Today, a penny won’t buy a piece of candy or most anything else. In fact, according to the United States Mint, the current cost to produce and distribute a penny is nearly four cents.

In the current time and economy, what will a penny purchase? With the lasting value of electricity, one cent will purchase the following:

·        More than 15 full charges for an iPhone

·        More than 10 hours of light from an efficient lightbulb

·        About two hours of television, depending on size and technology

·        Half an hour of work on an average desktop computer

Electricity is just about the only thing of value that can still be purchased for a penny. The cost per kilowatt-hour (kWh) of electricity has risen slower than any other household commodity for decades, making the value of electricity about as good as it gets.

One kWh is equal to using 1,000 watts of electricity for 60 minutes. At Claiborne Electric, each kWh costs members about 12.5 cents, which is significantly lower than the state average (nearly 14 cents) and national average (nearly 18 cents). 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 for many years.

Currently, Claiborne Electric’s members pay some of the lowest electric rates in the state. In the most recent rate comparison released by the Louisiana Public Service Commission, members using an average of 1,000 kWh per month were billed $127.80. In comparison, the same bill would be $143.33 for an Entergy customer, $150.97 for a SWEPCO customer, and $158.83 for a CLECO customer.

It is fortunate that electricity continues to hold such an excellent value, because the American appetite for electricity continues to grow. 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.

Electricity per kWh is not expensive, but homes and businesses require more and more kWh to run on a daily basis, even despite advancements in technology and energy efficiency. With the growing demand of electric power, the U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates Americans will use more than four billion kWh this year.

Clearly, energy consumption shows no signs of slowing down. We encourage members to remember the value electricity holds with each flip of a switch, press of a button, and charge of a phone. At Claiborne Electric, we are always looking out for members by working together to keep electric bills affordable and service reliable. For more information on lowering electric consumption and using energy more wisely, please contact a local Claiborne Electric office.