OPALCO Board Nom­i­na­tions Open: Inter­est­ed? Vir­tu­al Open House for Can­di­dates Jan­u­ary 6th OPALCO nom­i­na­tions for board can­di­dates are now open. You can help shape our ener­gy future! There are three posi­tions open: one posi­tion in Dis­trict 1 (San Juan, Brown, Hen­ry, Pearl and Spieden islands), one posi­tion in Dis­trict 3 (Lopez, Decatur, Cen­ter and Charles islands,  Con­tin­ue Reading

The Co-op Dif­fer­ence: Cap­i­tal Cred­it Checks are in the Mail!  More than $1M in cap­i­tal cred­it checks are going out to OPALCO mem­bers this month, as they do each year. As an elec­tric coop­er­a­tive, the mar­gin at the end of any giv­en year goes back into the hands of mem­bers. Each year the co-op tracks how much you pay for pow­er  Con­tin­ue Reading

The Novem­ber OPALCO Board Meet­ing includ­ed sev­er­al changes for coop­er­a­tive mem­bers includ­ing a 4% rate increase for all mem­bers, a change to the way solar pro­duc­ers get paid for the excess pow­er they sell back to the co-op, and excit­ing addi­tions to the Switch It Up! pro­gram includ­ing rooftop solar and bat­tery stor­age sys­tems. The  Con­tin­ue Reading

Solar shares and elec­tric tools Since the OPALCO Annu­al Meet­ing in April, co-op mem­bers who par­tic­i­pat­ed in the Island Way work­shops have been entered to win raf­fle prizes includ­ing ten shares of the Bail­er Hill Micro­grid Project (to be com­plet­ed in 2022), a Green­works elec­tric mow­er and a Stihl elec­tric blow­er. The three win­ning names were  Con­tin­ue Reading

OPALCO can help you pre­pare As we approach the win­ter storm sea­son, it is a good time to think about being ready for poten­tial pow­er out­ages: replen­ish your bat­tery sup­ply, fill up your gas tank (or charge up your EV) and make sure your phones and com­put­ers are ful­ly charged – and you should know  Con­tin­ue Reading

Fol­low OPALCO’s EV Road Trip in Octo­ber: Start­ing Octo­ber 6th, an exclu­sive team from OPALCO (Com­mu­ni­ca­tion Spe­cial­ist Krista Bouchey and the “Switch it up pup” Pep­per) will be dri­ving the Co-op’s Kia Niro 100% elec­tric vehi­cle (EV) to East­ern Wash­ing­ton and back, mak­ing stops to vis­it wind and hydro projects, inno­v­a­tive pub­lic pow­er projects and  Con­tin­ue Reading

Solar Town Hall — Sep­tem­ber 20 This is your last chance to enter the raf­fle! OPALCO’s series of Island Way work­shops con­cludes with a Solar Town Hall via Zoom on Sep­tem­ber 20th at 5:00pm. The Solar Town Hall will give an update on the next com­mu­ni­ty solar project – the Bail­er Hill Micro­grid on San Juan  Con­tin­ue Reading

OPALCO to Host Solar Town Hall Sep­tem­ber 20th  Last chance to enter raf­fle  OPALCO’s series of Island Way work­shops con­cludes with a Solar Town Hall via Zoom on Sep­tem­ber 20th at 5:00pm. The Solar Town Hall will give an update on the next com­mu­ni­ty solar project – the Bail­er Hill Micro­grid on San Juan Island, dis­cuss  Con­tin­ue Reading

From OPALCO At 4:30 p.m. Aug. 5 OPALCO will host an Elec­tric Vehi­cle Jam­boree at the OPALCO East­sound park­ing lot. The in-per­­son work­shop will intro­duce mem­bers to a vari­ety of elec­tric vehi­cles, giv­ing those who already have an elec­tric vehi­cle a chance for some show and tell and answer ques­tions. Mem­bers can test dri­ve an elec­tric  Con­tin­ue Reading

From OPALCO Wash­ing­ton State Gov. Jay Inslee is expect­ed to lift the mora­to­ri­um on all util­i­ty dis­con­nects July 31. Since the begin­ning of the pan­dem­ic, OPALCO has worked with its mem­bers to offer bill-pay assis­tance and long-term pay­ment options for those who have fall­en behind on their bills. Mem­bers who have pay­ment plans in place will not  Con­tin­ue Reading

From OPALCO OPALCO has a strong com­mit­ment to keep­ing its pow­er lines clear of trees and brush in order to keep field crews and co-op mem­bers safe, reduce pow­er out­ages and pre­vent dam­age to the islands’ elec­tri­cal sys­tem. This reduces costs – sav­ing mem­ber dol­lars – and helps to keep the lights on. Orcas Pow­er  Con­tin­ue Reading

From OPALCO Are you ready for the shift away from fos­sil fuels? OPALCO’s Island Way cam­paign is here to help co-op mem­bers pre­pare for the ener­gy future that is com­ing fast. The next vir­tu­al work­shop is May 27. Island Way events are inter­ac­tive hour-long ses­sions designed to help mem­bers get the infor­ma­tion and sup­port they need to pre­pare  Con­tin­ue Reading

135 Mem­ber Join Online Annu­al Meet­ing, more than 50 Join Q&A   From OPALCO Jeff Struthers and Rick Chris­mas of the Orcas dis­trict and Tom Oster­man of Lopez dis­trict were elect­ed to the OPALCO Board of Direc­tors.  The results were announced at the orga­ni­za­tion’s annu­al meet­ing April 24 held via Zoom. Orcas Pow­er & Light Coop­er­a­tive,  Con­tin­ue Reading

Attend and Enter to Win Elec­tric Lawn­mow­er, 10 Com­mu­ni­ty Solar Shares   From OPALCO OPALCO will host a solar town hall May 5 in the first of a series of co-op work­shops that help mem­bers pre­pare their homes and busi­ness­es to tran­si­tion from fos­sil fuels. Orcas Pow­er & Light Coop­er­a­tive, or OPALCO, is the mem­ber-owned coop­er­a­tive  Con­tin­ue Reading

Enter to Win Com­mu­ni­ty Solar Shares or Elec­tric Lawn­mow­er From OPALCO If you pay your pow­er bill to OPALCO, you’re a mem­ber of the elec­tri­cal co-op. OPALCO, or Orcas Pow­er & Light Coop­er­a­tive, is a mem­ber-owned coop­er­a­tive elec­tric util­i­ty that serves 20 islands in San Juan Coun­ty. Each year OPALCO holds its annu­al meet­ing to  Con­tin­ue Reading

From OPALCO Orcas Pow­er & Light Coop­er­a­tive is clear­ing the right-of-way areas under pow­er lines to pro­tect the elec­tri­cal sys­tem from out­ages, remove for­est fuels that could feed a wild­fire and improve for­est health through biochar amend­ments to the soil. OPALCO is our mem­ber-owned coop­er­a­tive elec­tric util­i­ty, serv­ing San Juan Coun­ty.  The Civil­ian Con­ser­va­tion Corp will  Con­tin­ue Reading