RMP On Line Archive

July 29, 2010

It's the Magic

My favorite part of working for a power company is the magic. Sure, there’s a technical explanation for how electricity is generated and moved hundreds of miles, then used to light and power homes, schools, businesses, churches, government buildings and more. But when you consider that we’re able to take natural resources such as wind, water, fossil fuels and the sun’s rays and convert their power into usable energy, and that electricity is transmitted at close to the speed of light to make our modern society possible…well, there must be a bit of magic involved somehow.

Another word to describe it might be miracle. Whatever you call it, the daily work of providing power to more than a million Rocky Mountain Power customers is certainly an amazing process.

How often do you think about electricity? For most people, chances are it’s not something you spend much time contemplating. You flip the switch and expect the room to light up. You press the button and expect your vacuum or washing machine to run…and rightfully so. Electricity is an essential part of our lives. We don’t know how to get along without it. For most people, electricity just happens. It’s there when we need it and it’s not top of mind.

If this observation is correct, that’s a good thing in many ways. In large part it means we’re doing our job well. If a customer is thinking about electricity very often, it may indicate a problem with their service. However, it also could mean they are tuned into the changing energy landscape and the opportunities it presents.

Creative Commons photo copyright: By Brian Hillegras, on Flickr

More and more, customers have an increasing ability to manage their own electricity use and costs by taking advantage of energy-saving tips, programs and incentives. (We call this being wattsmart; more to come in later blog posts.)

Also, if someone wants to support renewable energy beyond the cost-effective renewables in our mix of resources used to serve customers, they can sign up for our Blue Sky program. There are more tools at our customers’ disposal than ever before. So pausing to consider what actually goes into energizing that outlet on your wall, and looking closely at your own energy choices, can be a very good thing.

One of the main reasons for this new RMP On Line blog is to talk about energy issues that are important to customers, to help spark more thought and discussion about how we can all move forward in the right direction. Just as understanding where the food in our grocery store actually comes from helps us to make informed dietary choices, understanding how electricity is produced and distributed gives a clearer picture of why Rocky Mountain Power does some of the higher profile activities you may have wondered about (building new wind projects, power plants, transmission lines and substations to keep up with growing demand for electricity; encouraging energy efficiency to save all customers money; informing policy makers about the potential impacts of legislation or regulations on RMP customers; just to name a few.)

We’ll be covering a lot of topics in this blog, and it will probably evolve over time. I’d certainly appreciate your thoughts, questions and suggestions about what you’d like to hear from Rocky Mountain Power in this forum. Please send me an email, and I’ll be sure to respond either directly or through the blog.

So, getting back to the magic: Houdini, Copperfield, Potter…no question they could wow a crowd or take our imagination to new heights. But it’s the magic created by Edison, Tesla and other pioneers of electricity that continues to light our way today!

– Jeff