Members of 4-County Electric Power Association can expect to receive a survey designed to gauge their opinions on the cooperative investing in high-speed internet.
Brian Clark, president of 4-County, said officials will mail the surveys this week to each of the co-op’s 37,000-plus members across nine counties, including Lowndes, Oktibbeha and Clay counties. The surveys are due back by April 24.
The members’ feedback will be one factor in determining whether to invest in providing high-speed internet to 4-County’s coverage area, with the cooperative’s board making the ultimate decision likely by year’s end, Clark said.
He said the survey — which is only three questions — is designed to gauge whether members are willing to borrow up to $110 million to lay the necessary infrastructure.
“Since we’re member-owned, this is their co-op,” Clark said. “Are they OK with that risk?”
The first question on the survey says: “The majority of financing for a broadband project (estimated at about $110 million) would be done through 4-County Electric. That means that if the project is unsuccessful, all 4-County members would be financially impacted. With that understanding, as a member of 4-County Electric Power Association, would you be willing to offer the electric system as collateral on a potential loan amount of approximately $110 million in order to build a fiber optic broadband system?”
The other two questions ask, “Do you currently have internet service at your 4-County served home or business?” and “If yes, would you be willing and able to leave your current provider and commit to 4-County for a competitive price as your internet provider?”
4-County officials have so far been “cautious” about diving into the broadband industry, said 4-County Public Relations and Marketing Manager Jon Turner.
“We’re not being ‘slow’ in our minds because of the magnitude of this decision,” he said. “… You saw what just happened in the last three weeks when the economy just went in the sewer. That’s a lot of money to try and think about doing when the world could change in a week. That’s why we’re moving as steadily as we are and as deliberately as we are.”
State law says co-ops cannot use electric money to pay for the internet, but Turner said if broadband doesn’t make enough money to pay off the loan, the co-op would have to charge its electric members more. Clark said those costs could be up to $15 per member per month for 20 years.
4-County may receive some money from the Rural Development Opportunity Fund, which has $16.6 billion total in federal funds available to rural utility providers across the country, Clark said. But since 4-County would be bidding against co-ops nationwide, there’s no guarantee how much 4-County would receive.
Increasing demand
Clark said 4-County conducted feasibility surveys and a smaller marketing survey for its most rural residents about 18 months ago. However, he thinks the demand for high-speed internet in those areas may have changed, particularly in light of the need for distance learning as the spread of COVID-19 coronavirus has closed schools and forced students to rely on internet access for education until at least April 17, per Gov. Tate Reeves’ order.
“With the coronavirus, what we’re going through with students at home needing an education, with the health care system being strained like it is, I think … the demand is greater now than it was a year and a half ago,” he said.
Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District Eddie Peasant said it’s “not a secret” that many people both in the Starkville community and 4-County’s area want better internet access.
“(There are) people who would like that access and who would use that access for many of the things we, prior to this, just enjoyed in our lives,” he said. “But now we have a necessity … for that access. I expect that to come out in that survey.”
Lowndes County School District Superintendent Sam Allison echoed Peasant, with the caveat that just because students and others in rural areas might want better internet doesn’t mean 4-County is the best organization to provide it. He plans to have principals get statistics by school of which students don’t have internet and why, but without having those numbers yet, he said he was hesitant to predict how students would be impacted if 4-County provided an internet option.
“I can’t tell you the impact it would have,” he said. “So many of our students … a lot of them probably have access and don’t have (internet) because of financial status.”
Turner and Clark said they want as many members to respond to 4-County’s survey as possible and are even holding a drawing to give members prizes, such as a retired 4-County fleet truck, an electric yard tool package and $500 worth of electric credit.
“The answer’s not no, it’s not yes,” Clark said. “We want to hear from the membership.”
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