{"id":182034,"date":"2024-08-02T22:13:16","date_gmt":"2024-08-03T03:13:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=182034"},"modified":"2024-08-02T22:13:18","modified_gmt":"2024-08-03T03:13:18","slug":"electric-co-op-to-provide-fiber-internet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2024\/08\/02\/electric-co-op-to-provide-fiber-internet\/","title":{"rendered":"Electric co-op to provide fiber internet"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Staff\/submitted information<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAULDING <\/strong>\u2014 <\/strong>On July 18, the Paulding Putnam Electric Cooperative<\/a> Board of Trustees<\/a> unanimously voted to provide fiber internet as a new service offered by the co-op. <\/a>This decision came after conducting several feasibility studies earlier this year. The board\u2019s goal is to provide high-speed, reliable internet to the co-op\u2019s electric membership via fiber-to-the-home. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur goal will be to build and operate this new business just as we\u2019ve operated the electric side: with our members and community first in mind,\u201d said PPEC President and CEO Randy Price. \u201cWe will combine and leverage the electric plant\u2019s benefits and infrastructure we\u2019ve built over the last 89 years with the data transmitted through fiber to better serve you, our members, and future generations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Who will be eligible for the new service?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Residential and commercial members who are currently unserved or underserved, and who express interest will be the priority for connection. PPEC has nearly 14,000 members across seven counties in northwestern Ohio and northeastern Indiana \u2014 and growing. Progress will be determined by the amount of member interest in an area. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the co-op determines it is financially feasible, it may add non-member communities in need outside of the PPEC territory. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is fiber internet?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fiber is considered the \u201cgold standard\u201d of broadband connections. The term fiber-optic internet, or just \u201cfiber,\u201d refers to bringing internet service to your home or business through ultra-thin strands of glass fibers bundled inside an insulated casing. The fibers transmit data using light pulses instead of electric currents. Unlike the copper wire of phone or cable connections, or the wireless signals of satellite connections, the data transmitted over fiber-optic cables is coming to you at the speed of light! PPEC plans to provide speeds of up to 1 gigabit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When will this happen?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Planning, design, and engineering will take place over the next year. By fall 2025, the first member should have internet service from PPEC. The co-op aims to complete its member system by 2028. If PPEC serves non-member communities, the build may take as long as five years (through 2030). Other unforeseen factors may affect these plans, but the co-op will keep the public informed throughout the process via its website, magazines, email newsletters, and social media. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

How will this impact members? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The internet and electric sides of the business will remain separate. Electric members will not see their rates increase due to the fiber internet efforts. However, all members will see the benefit of connecting our substations using fiber technology. This will allow PPEC to detect and restore power outages more quickly and provide more accurate data to the membership with improved communication between equipment. All members will benefit from a smarter, stronger, more connected electric grid. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s next?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watch PPEC\u2019s fiber updates webpage, www.ppec.coop\/fiberupdates<\/a>, for more information coming soon. Pre-registration will be available this fall.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those with questions can call the co-op at 800-686-2357 or email fiber@ppec.coop<\/a>.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Paulding Putnam Electric Board of Trustees<\/a> and staff are driven daily to be member \u2014 and community \u2013- focused,\u201d Price said. \u201cWe are visionary and use every experience to learn, improve what we do for you, and invest in your future. We look forward to serving you in this new capacity.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Staff\/submitted information PAULDING \u2014 On July 18, the Paulding Putnam Electric Cooperative Board of Trustees unanimously voted to provide fiber internet as a new service offered by the co-op. This decision came after conducting several feasibility studies earlier this year. The board\u2019s goal is to provide high-speed, reliable internet to the co-op\u2019s electric membership via fiber-to-the-home.  \u201cOur goal will be to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-182034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-03 13:13:42","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182034"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182034\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":182036,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182034\/revisions\/182036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}