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By MARK SCOLFORO
Arundel Newspapers Staff Writer
The Rappahannock Electric Cooperative (REC), which serves 646 power customers in Rappahannock County, has the highest rates in the state, a fact that a new consumer group is trying to change.
Consumers Against Rappahannock Electric (CARE) was bom in January when Dean Irvine, a Madison County REC customer, opened his electric bill for what had been a very cold December and hit the roof. In one month his three-bedroom . brick house with a working wood stove had run up a $381 bill, about twice the previous record.
When he tried to verify the numbers on his bill with his meter he was given a second shock: REC had just replaced his meter, so he’d never know for sure whether the bill was valid.
Over the past seven months Irvine has mounted a campaign against what he calls waste and mismanagement at REC, a campaign that has been helped along by inside sources that have funneled him documents and information without -identifying themselves.
Irvine has written letters to newspapers in the 16-county area "served by REC, the state’s largest electric co-op, and his activities were recently featured in an extensive article in the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
"I think they’re wasting a lot of ,our bucks,” he said.
To document his claims of waste and mismanagement, Irvine cites the following facts:
• As of May REC charged $83.69 per 1,000 kilowatt hours, a standard usage level at which power company rates are compared. Virginia Power, . also relatively high among state power companies, charges $81.31 in the summer and $76.28 in winter.
Coal-fired plants in the Shenandoah Valley provide the state’s cheapest rates, as low as $56.54 for Appalachian Power. Potomac Edison, which serves Irvine’s neighbors in parts of Madison County, charges k only $60.71.
• REC allowed a current member of its governing board of directors, William E. Frazier of Montpelier, to fall four months and nearly $1,000 behind on his bill.
Frazier paid the bill as soon as Irvine started asking questions about it in June. Irvine says Frazier owed a total of $1,900 on three accounts; Vivarette said the total was only $840.22.
“I would add that we regularly extend credit” to customers, said Vivarette, although he acknowledged that it was “pretty unusual” for someone to be allowed to go four months without paying a dime. Frazier is currently paid up completely, said REC general manager Cecil Vivarette.
During the same period REC disconnected an elderly Culpeper woman, Margo Glenn, who was making regular payments on a $250 bill. Forced to light with candles, her l house was destroyed by fire in Octo! ber.
Years ago another board member, Owen Jerrell, went bankrupt and was allowed to apply his “capital : credit’*’ toward his outstanding bill. ; All other co-op members can only collect that credit at death.
Irvine claims Jerrell’s bill was about $60,000; Vivarette said it was closer to $20,000. : • A longtime employee, Guy Le. wis, was given his $14,000 company car and a $9,000 party upon his re
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