Key Account Spotlight: Reef Systems Coral Farm, Inc.

Posted on: April 24, 2025 By: hcarter@consolidated.coop

Reef Systems Coral Farm is a small agricultural coral farm focused on education, conservation, and helping make the aquarium hobby fun and enjoyable. 

Reef System’s mission is to offer quality services and products at a reasonable price to the hobbyist. They believe in the sustainable farming of captive-raised corals, aqua-cultured live rock, saltwater fish, and tank-raised saltwater fish. They also shared that farm-raised animals help support the protection of the world’s reefs, a mission that is close to their hearts.  

Reef Systems shared that they prefer to teach over making sales. They offer assistance for their customers and potential customers covering a wide variety of topics, including issues like water chemistry, lighting, and flow rates for each individual tank.  

In addition to providing advice and assistance in their store, Reef Systems also partners with educational institutions to further their mission. They provide work experience to students from local high schools who are interested in the aquarium hobby, conservation, and learning, and they collaborate with universities and other educational institutions for the common goal of public education on the preservation of the world’s reefs. Currently, they are working with The Ohio State University and The University of Georgia on a research grant focused on marine conservation. 

Reef Systems Coral Farm is based in New Albany, where they have eight employees and three interns. They raise 90% of their corals at their farm, allowing them to ensure that their customers have disease-free, healthy animals for their aquariums. 

 If you would like to learn more about Reef Systems Coral Farm, their work, and their services, check them out at the links below: 

Website: https://reefsystemscoralfarm.com/  

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/reefsystemscoralfarm  

Storm and Outage Safety

Posted on: April 1, 2025 By: hcarter@consolidated.coop

Our team is ready when severe weather strikes – make sure you are too!

View Ohio weather alerts here.

How to Report an Outage:

Outage Tracking

  • Sign up for Outage Alerts to receive text message updates about outages in your area.
  • Use our Outage Map to see the impact of an outage across our territory and track our restoration progress.

Outage Safety

  • Never approach a downed powerline, even if it appears to be de-energized. Lines can become re-energized as restoration efforts progress. If you see a downed line, call us and 911 right away.
  • Do not try to remove any debris from a powerline, even if you think it may be impacting your service. Without the proper training, equipment, and safety gear, it is extremely dangerous to go near a powerline.
  • Always follow these generator safety tips, including:
    • Never operate your generator inside your home or garage – even if doors and windows are open.
    • Never plug your generator into a wall outlet to try and power your home – this can send electricity down de-energized lines, putting line workers in serious danger.
  • During the restoration process, sometimes power comes back on in spikes that can damage electronics. Unplug all electronics and heat-producing appliances when an outage occurs.

Outage Preparation

  • Do you have any medical equipment or treatments that require electricity or refrigeration? Make a plan with your doctor or pharmacist to ensure that you know how to stay safe when a power outage occurs. 
  • Maintain an emergency kit with necessary items like non-perishable food, water, flashlights, batteries, a first-aid kit, etc. 
  • Make sure you have blankets and warm clothing easily accessible. 
  • If you know a storm is coming, take time to charge important devices like phones, laptops, and portable batteries in case of an outage. 
  • Ensure that all of your sensitive electronics are protected from power surges. Remember that newer appliances often include computer elements and will need surge protection. Read this article to learn more about the importance of surge protectors and how to pick the surge protectors that best suit your needs. 
  • Remember to include your pets in your preparations! 

Tornado Safety:

  • Make sure your yard is free of heavy debris that could be tossed around by the wind.
  • Choose a safe area in your home where your family can gather if a tornado warning is issued. Pick a spot in your basement or in a room with no windows on the lowest level of your home.
  • In extreme weather, look for the following potential signs of a tornado: a dark sky, low-lying clouds, large hail, or a loud roar.
  • If you are outside or in a vehicle, do not try to outrun a tornado. Seek shelter in your home or a building immediately.
  • Follow this link for more tornado-specific safety tips.

Key Account Spotlight: 1st Impressions Landscape & Garden Center

Posted on: March 19, 2025 By: hcarter@consolidated.coop
1st Impressions Logo

1st Impressions Landscape & Garden Center is a Sunbury-based landscape design, build, and maintenance company founded in 1998. Their mission is to provide quality products and timely service focused on their four core values: Humility, Integrity, Knowledge, and Experience (H.I.K.E). 

When 1st Impressions was founded, they solely provided lawn care services. Over the years, they have expanded into creative design, build, and construction services as the demand for outdoor living space increased. As the community continued to grow, 1st Impressions decided to open its doors to homeowners and professionals alike for pickup and delivery of quality landscape products they utilized in their projects. 

1st Impressions encourages sustainability in their landscaping projects. They work to choose native species that require less water and care to thrive, and they construct permeable paver surfaces to help minimize run-off and control erosion. In addition to recycling their own organic waste from operations, they accept organic waste for recycling from anyone interested in making a positive impact on the environment. 

The team at 1st Impressions shares that they take great pride in maintaining the grounds of The Ohio Fallen Heroes Memorial, and that they strongly believe in honoring those who have made sacrifices to serve our country. 

“I want to thank our community for all the support they have given us over the years,” shared Scott A. Wagner, President of 1st Impressions. “We have been truly blessed to be a part of your lives.” 

If you are interested in learning more about 1st Impressions Landscape & Garden Center and the work that they do, check them out online using the links below: 

Website: https://1stgardencenter.com/ 
Facebook: facebook.com/1stImpressionsGardenCenter
Instagram: instagram.com/1stimpressions_landscapegarden

Delaware County Broadband Expansion Project

Posted on: March 12, 2025 By: hcarter@consolidated.coop

We are proud to partner with Delaware County to bring our reliable, high-speed internet to underserved and unserved neighborhoods in our communities! Please read the full story from Delaware County on their website: Broadband Expansion Announcement.

High-speed internet has become an essential service, especially as more people have begun working and learning from home. We started Consolidated Fiber to help connect our members to the future, and we are excited to partner with Delaware to extend that connection.

How will I know if service is available to me?

We have begun the construction process, and plan to begin opening service to impacted areas this spring. We will notify households with door hangers and mailers when we are building and when service becomes available. You can check fiber service availability any time by typing your address into our map, found here.

 FAQs for Consolidated Members

Is this project going to cost Consolidated members?

No. Delaware County received federal funding to bring internet service to underserved and unserved communities. They are using a portion of that funding to hire us to bring our fiber-to-the-home internet to specific areas in the county.

Why is Consolidated providing fiber service outside of its service territory?

In addition to helping the underserved and unserved in our surrounding communities by giving them access to reliable, high-speed internet, this project stands to create long-term benefits for both our members and communities:

  • More of Delaware County will have access to excellent internet, helping neighborhoods thrive, empowering families to move to more rural areas without sacrificing their ability to connect, and supporting the continued development of the local economy.   
  • As your local cooperative, we are not driven by profits. Our rates reflect the costs we pay to provide you with reliable, high-speed internet service. Bringing more subscribers to our fiber network means that the costs of building and maintaining our network will be split among more people, helping us keep our rates down.

Will this project impact Consolidated’s current fiber construction plans for within Consolidated service territory?

No. Our partnership with the county enables us to bring on additional contracted crews who will complete the extension work. Construction within our territory is still moving forward as planned.

Natural Gas Pipeline – News Release

Posted on: February 20, 2025 By: hcarter@consolidated.coop

Consolidated Cooperative Partners with Morrow County on Natural Gas Pipeline

Consolidated Cooperative signed an agreement with Morrow County to expand the natural gas service that supports the I71/SR61 interchange. This partnership is designed to pave the way for growth – both for Morrow County and Consolidated.

“As we continue to keep our targeted areas of growth in mind, I am encouraged to work with companies, like Consolidated Cooperative and to be able to think outside the box on how we can meet the current and future needs of our community,” said Jamie Brucker, Executive Director of the Morrow County Development Authority.

Consolidated brought natural gas to the I71/SR61 interchange decades ago, but demand from recent growth in the area has pushed their existing pipeline to the limits of what it can deliver. This location needs significant additional capacity to continue supporting projects that will enhance quality of life and bring jobs to the area.

As a not-for-profit cooperative, Consolidated has a long history of working to attract growth that helps improve life in the communities they serve. Morrow County stepped up as a partner on this project because the anticipated business growth stands to create numerous economic benefits for the entire county and surrounding areas.

“As Morrow County’s local, not-for-profit cooperative, we are proud of our nearly 90-year commitment to working alongside so many others who continue to strive to make our communities places where we can all prosper.” Shared Consolidated President and CEO, Phil Caskey. “This project is yet another shining example of the great work we all can do when we work together.”

Consolidated began construction in December 2024, and they expect to complete the 12-inch line in the third quarter of 2025.

Winter Storm Preparation – Ice

Posted on: February 5, 2025 By: hcarter@consolidated.coop

As of February 5, 2025, our area is under Winter Weather Advisories for freezing rain and ice accumulation.

Ice can weigh down powerlines, create dangerous conditions on the roads, and add hazards to the outage restoration process. Our team is ready to act safely and efficiently if this freezing rain leads to downed lines or outages – make sure make sure you and your family are prepared too!

Please read through the information below to ensure that you know how to report outages, track restoration, and remain safe if power is lost in freezing temperatures.

View Ohio weather alerts here. 

View Ohio travel and roadway conditions here.

Storm and Outage Safety:
  • Never approach a downed powerline or attempt to clear debris from a powerline, even if it appears to be de-energized. Lines can become re-energized as restoration efforts progress, and it is extremely dangerous to go near them without the proper training and equipment. If you see a downed line, call us and 911 right away. 
  • During the restoration process, sometimes power comes back on in spikes that can damage electronics. Unplug all electronics and heat-producing appliances when an outage occurs. 
  • Always follow these generator safety tips, including:
    • Never operate your generator inside your home or garage – even if doors and windows are open. 
    • Never plug your generator into a wall outlet to try and power your home – this can send electricity down de-energized lines, putting line workers in serious danger. 

Follow this link for more safety reminders. 

How to Report an Outage: 
Outage Tracking
  • Sign up for Outage Alerts to receive text message updates about outages in your area.
  • Use our outage map to see the impact of an outage across our territory and track our restoration progress.

Important Outage Preparation Reminders:

  • Do you have any medical equipment or treatments that require electricity or refrigeration? Make a plan with your doctor or pharmacist to ensure that you know how to stay safe when a power outage occurs. 
  • Maintain an emergency kit with necessary items like non-perishable food, water, flashlights, batteries, a first-aid kit, etc. 
  • Make sure you have blankets and warm clothing easily accessible. 
  • If you know a storm is coming, take time to charge important devices like phones, laptops, and portable batteries in case of an outage. 
  • Ensure that all of your sensitive electronics are protected from power surges. Remember that newer appliances often include computer elements and will need surge protection. Read this article to learn more about the importance of surge protectors and how to pick the surge protectors that best suit your needs. 
  • Remember to include your pets in your preparations! 

Billing Mail Delays – Go Paperless!

Posted on: January 31, 2025 By: hcarter@consolidated.coop

Over the past year, our area has experienced increasing mail delays that caused our members to receive their bills late. While this issue is exacerbated by holidays and severe weather mail delays are becoming more common across the nation, especially in rural areas.

SmartHub, Paperless Billing and AutoPay are some of the best ways to help ensure that mail delays do not impact your ability to manage your
account.

SmartHub is our free, secure online account management system for Consolidated members. Create an account to access all of your billing information online, make payments, track your energy use, and more.


With Paperless Billing, your bill is delivered to you via email as soon as it becomes available each month, so you don’t have to worry about mail delays. Sign up for Paperless on your Consolidated SmartHub account under “Settings,” or contact our team for help


Set up AutoPay to avoid the risk of late payments and ease the stress of remembering to pay your bill each month.Simply choose the account or card that you would like to pay with, and your bill total will be automatically withdrawn and applied to your Consolidated account on your due date each month. You can set up payments through SmartHub
or contact us for help

Learn more about all of our billing and payment options on our About My Bill page.

Polar Vortex – January 2025

Posted on: January 17, 2025 By: hcarter@consolidated.coop

Get ready for frigid weather!

If you have our natural gas, propane, and/or electric service, please read through important updates about each service below.

In temperatures like these, heating systems use a lot more energy to keep your home at a reasonable temperature. You may be using more gas, propane, and/or electricity to keep your house colder than it usually is, simply because your systems are working much harder to offset the weather. 

Resources 

Visit our Energy Efficiency Page for resources and tools to help you conserve and save.

Visit our Winter Storm Preparation Page to review how to stay safe if an outage occurs in cold weather. 

Natural Gas 

Transport Critical Days

Due to extreme demand, our natural gas supplier has issued “Transport Critical Days,” for January 18-21, which means that all natural gas purchased during this time will cost us about three times more than it usually does.  

As a not-for-profit cooperative, our rates reflect the costs we pay for the services we provide you. This means that we never charge extra to make more profit, but it also means that when our costs increase it increases our members’ costs too. 

Help us keep costs down for all natural gas members by conserving during these Transport Critical Days. While conserving will not change the rates, it will help us purchase less natural gas while the costs are so high. The less we have to purchase during this time, the less impact it has on our members.  

We will share more information with our natural gas members when the Transport Critical Days are over and we have a more complete picture of their impact.

Electric 

Peak Alerts

During times of extreme demand (like a polar vortex), you may hear about “peak alerts” or “peak demand.” A “peak alert” occurs when a utility provider is close to demanding more electric power than they have ever used before. When demand reaches a new peak, it also sets a new, higher price than electricity. 

Now more than ever, it is important for us all to try and safely conserve power during times when demand is high – not just to curb rising costs, but also to help avoid the need for rolling blackouts. Conservation during peak times can be as simple as lowering your thermostat by a few degrees, or turning off unused appliances and electronics. Learn more about electric energy reliability and affordability on our Energy Policy Resources page. 

Propane 

Keep an eye on your tank! 

Our propane team is working hard to make sure you have the fuel that you need to stay warm, but times of high use can make it harder for members to keep tabs on their propane tank. Please be aware that you are likely using propane at a faster rate than usual, even if you have turned your thermostat down.

During times of extreme cold, we recommend calling in to schedule a refill when your tank reaches 40%, instead of our typical recommendation of 30%. High use can catch our members off guard, and our teams are running a tight schedule as many more members are calling in for regular and urgent refills. When demand is this high, it takes us more time than usual to work in unexpected, last-minute deliveries. It also may cost you more, as you can incur leak test and rush fees if your tank is empty or below 10% capacity. 

We understand that sometimes things happen, and we will do our best to get to you efficiently if your tank is running low. Please join us in taking extra precautions and checking your tank more frequently during cold snaps. Thank you for working with us! 

Delaware Office Closures

Posted on: December 16, 2024 By: hcarter@consolidated.coop

Starting on December 19, our Delaware office lobby will be closed on Thursdays and Fridays. We have had some exciting internal promotions, and we are in the process of hiring and training new member engagement team members to help you over the phone and in our offices.  

We are committed to maintaining the high-level of service that you expect from us during this time, and we need to limit our office hours to do so. We do not plan to make this a permanent change, and we will re-evaluate through 2025.

We will still be here for you over the phone and via email on Thursdays and Fridays, and our Mount Gilead office and dropboxes will remain open as usual.

If you typically pay your bill in the Delaware office, please make sure to adjust your schedule or choose another of our many convenient payment options. 

Light up your life.