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The 70th Edition of South Kentucky RECC’s Annual Membership Meeting |
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Written by Administrator
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Friday, 13 June 2008 |
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 The 70th edition of South Kentucky RECC’s Annual Membership Meeting held on June 5 was a hot one and not just because the temperatures soared into the 90s. There were about 16,000 people in attendance and more than 4,100 members registered.
As with years past, there were educational and informative exhibits for those in attendance to visit, including health booths, civic organizations, local industry and businesses; car displays; and many others. In addition, members were treated to some wonderful entertainment this year with opening act Crossroads Quartet and the featured entertainment Tracy Lawrence, who has had several hits including “Paint Me a Birmingham,” “If the World had a Front Porch,” “Time Marches On,” and last year’s number one “You Find Out Who Your Friends Are.”
A new highlight to this year’s annual meeting was the presentation of the flags of the United States and state of Kentucky. Each year at annual meeting, the flags are presented and the National Anthem sang, however, this year it was presented in a most unique way. Five SKRECC linemen, Barney Singleton, Robbie Miller, Mark Wilson, Jon Slavey, and Nick Leger climbed a pole set in the middle of the grounds and handed the flags up and displayed them at the top followed by the National Anthem. It was quite a moving experience.
The primary purpose for the Annual Meeting is the business meeting, which started around 7 p.m. The cooperative’s bylaws provide that each year there shall be an Annual Membership Meeting for the presentation of reports from SKRECC officers and leadership. Re-elected to four year terms on the co-op board were Glen Massengale, District 4, and Tom Estes, District 7.
Allen Anderson, CEO of South KY RECC, reported to the membership that the co-op had an overall good year in 2007 with a $1.6 million positive net margin, and that the co-op does not anticipate any rate increase in the near future. He did indicate that there may be a need for East Kentucky Power, SKRECC’s provider of wholesale power, to increase rates by 2% late 2008 or early 2009. If and when this occurs, SKRECC would only pass on to the members this exact amount.
Anderson said that as with all businesses and South Kentucky’s membership, the co-op is very concerned about the state of the economy, and assured members that the co-op is doing everything it can to manage costs without sacrificing service. He said that coal is the primary source of power in Kentucky, helping the state maintain its ranking as having the fourth lowest electricity costs in the nation. However, on a political level, coal is being looked at negatively, and Anderson said all of us need to encourage our leaders to keep coal as a viable power source and to allow Kentucky co-ops to continue to invest in clean coal technologies so we can continue using this more economical source to create power and keep our Kentucky advantage with low cost power.
Anderson also told members that South Kentucky RECC’s building program is nearly complete with the replacement of the co-op’s 50-year old facilities in the districts. The first new facility in McCreary County was opened in 2006, the Russell County office opened in 2007, and the Albany office has just recently opened with a ribbon cutting and open house scheduled for June 26. The new Somerset office is in the planning and review stages.
Anderson spoke of the many positive things that have been taking place including South Kentucky RECC’s involvement with Somerset Community College, Somerset/Pulaski County Development Foundation, Pulaski County Fiscal Court, Lake Cumberland Area Development District, All Kentucky Electric Cooperatives, Utility Contractors, and all other Utilities on the new Regional High Growth Training Center (Lineman Training School). The facility, currently under construction, is located in the technology park off Hwy. 461 in Pulaski County. He said this facility will provide career opportunities for our young people in Kentucky that have interest in a career in the utility business, and another purpose of this facility is to support the needs of all utilities across the nation that are faced with an aging work force with no experienced replacement. This facility is projected to be operational in late 2008.
Another area Anderson touched on was reliability of service provided by South Kentucky RECC. According to Anderson, the co-op in 2007 had an overall reliability rate of 99.957%, meaning the average co-op member had power more than 99.9% of the time. While this is an excellent rate, Anderson said the co-op will continue to try to improve on the reliability, saying that there are some areas in the system that do not have as great reliability, for the most part due to the rugged terrain.
An additional way to improve the co-op’s reliability will be to install a new automated answering service. Anderson said this should improve response, particularly during high outage situations. While dispatchers, the in-house call center, and the off-site call center will remain in place, the automated service will assist in handling the overflow of calls and will greatly reduce the busy signals and failure of members to make contact with the co-op in emergency outage situations.
Finally, Anderson said South Kentucky RECC offers many services to members to help them use electricity more efficiently and help reduce their costs; things like the compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) that each registering member received from the co-op at annual meeting, which will save about $13.50 per year in electricity costs for each bulb used; free in-home energy audits to help members find and correct heat gain/loss areas in their home; tune-ups on heat pumps; button-ups on their homes, which includes increasing insulation; and many others. In addition, Anderson announced that South Kentucky RECC is looking at several new programs, such as Direct Load Control, that members should be able to take advantage of in the near future.
After the Business Meeting, South KY RECC recognized the Washington Rural Electric Youth Tour recipients and also awarded $11,000 in scholarships to 11 high school seniors in the service area as part of the Senior Scholarship Program.
South KY RECC believes that investing in our youth has a profound effect on the improvement of the quality of life in the communities we serve, which fulfills our mission. South KY RECC’s Mission Statement reads “South Kentucky RECC was formed for people not profit. Its mission is to reliably provide electricity and related services to its members at a competitive price, and to improve the quality of life in their communities.” |
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