Scholarship Winners Announced. (L to R) Sarah Lemmon (Edon HS), Darin Thorp (NWEC President and CEO), Morgan Rowe (Edgerton HS/Four County), Joshua Webb (Bryan HS), Chelsey Taylor (Hicksville HS), Eric Macsay (Fairview HS), Kelsie Crites (Fairview HS). Photo credit: Lucas Bechtol/The Bryan Times
Five hundred and eighty-eight members and guests attended North Western Electric Cooperative’s annual meeting at Fairview High School, where the co-op announced the upcoming launch of its new propane company, NW Ohio Propane, LLC.
The for-profit business was approved by the NWEC Board of Trustees last year to offer members more energy choices. David Dietsch was recently secured as operations manager, and site excavating began this month after warmer-than-usual February temperatures delayed construction.
“We’re very excited to be serving our new customers with the same great service and reliability you have come to know and trust,” said NWEC President and CEO Darin Thorp. “We will be focused on giving our customers the most responsive, personal care possible.”
Members approved two changes to the co-op’s Code of Regulations and re-elected Dean Harrington, District 4 (Brady, Center, Jefferson and Pulaski townships); Charles (Tom) Case, District 5 (Crane, Farmer and Mark townships) and Jordan Ruffer, District 6 (Adams, Ridgeville, Springfield and Tiffin townships) to the board of trustees.
After enjoying a hot meal and dessert, members heard reports on the state of their cooperative from NWEC officials. They also honored the six co-op scholarship recipients and the participant for the Washington, D.C., Youth Tour, an annual trip for a student in NWEC’s service territory.
Board Chairman Andy Farnham honored the late Gertrude Studer, one of NWEC’s oldest members, by announcing the formation of the Gertrude Studer NWEC Memorial Scholarship. This annual meeting marked the first year Studer wasn’t in attendance. She passed away in February at the age of 109.
Farnham also reported that NWEC was able to refund over $928,600 of patronage capital credits to members the past year, signaling that North Western Electric Cooperative is in strong financial shape.
“A total of all retirements for the life of the co-op is now over 16 million dollars,” Farnham said. “We still rank in the top two percent of cooperatives nationwide who give back the most money in the form of capital credits to our members.”
Thorp addressed the co-op’s 2016 construction projects, including rebuilding and converting more than 10 miles of old copper power lines and building and rebuilding 17 miles of transmission line between the Ney, Farmer and Evansport substations to help ensure reliability and prevent outages.
“Our co-op has a total of 77 miles of transmission line of varying age,” he said. “A planned, systematic approach to replacing the line and poles is imperative to keep our system stable.”
Bob Carter, NWEC’s new staking/field engineering technician, was recognized by Thorp as the manager of the cooperative’s Geographical Information System (GIS), which identifies every pole and equipment piece on the co-op’s system, relaying information to predict root causes of outages for quicker power restoration.
In terms of member satisfaction, 2016 saw NWEC’s highest American Customer Satisfaction Index (ASCI) score of 86, Thorp said, surpassing other local electric utilities and even global companies like Coca-Cola®.
“I guess it’s safe to say our members are more satisfied with us than the number one soft drink in the world,” Thorp said. “Once again, it’s good to be a cooperative member.”
Thorp also noted that since the co-op’s SmartHub launch last year, over 30 percent of members pay their bills or manage their accounts through the online system.
Members were then given an update on electric co-op news and projects across Ohio from Bill Roberts, the chief financial officer of Ohio Rural Electric Cooperatives and Buckeye Power, Inc., NWEC’s statewide services organization and wholesale power supplier. Roberts highlighted the expected stability for the power supply portion of members’ rates, development of the OurSolar community solar project across Ohio, the newly redesigned, renamed member magazine, Ohio Cooperative Living, and electric co-ops’ involvement with state and national legislatures.
“We remind our lawmakers and regulators about the importance of affordable electricity as they consider laws and rules that affect your electric cooperative,” Roberts said, noting how Ohio electric co-ops are pushing back against the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed plan to further regulate and restrict the use of coal at power plants. “We need to continue to leverage the power of the cooperative network in ways that support our principles and values.”
The meeting concluded with the awarding of several door prizes, including energy credits and a television.
