An important message
Article was added on Tuesday, May 12, 2015
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IN 1998 I attended my first SEC Annual Meeting as an employee. It
was April 7th - the same date as this year's Annual
Meeting.
I won't step down as CEO until July 31 but
I did want to use this space to repeat a vitally important message
that I shared in my remarks at this year meeting. It's about
something that has not changed since I started here and is unlikely
to change in the future: That is, wholesale power costs, the single
greatest factor in your bill, continue to rise dramatically. Your
co-op does all it can to hold down operational costs but the cost
of the power that we buy on behalf of all members, and resell to
you on a not-for-profit basis, is out of our hands. Our wholesale
power costs rose from $94.5 million in 2013 to $98.3 million for
2014.
Please do all you can to properly seal and
insulate your home, to use energy wisely and to take advantage of
the many resources that SEC offers you. We're just a phone call or
email away.
Hitting the highlights
If
you couldn't attend this year, or didn't stick around for the
business meeting, allow me to recap for you:
-
The co-op registered 3,827 members in
attendance. Even with this turnout, registration went smoothly - a
credit to SEC employees and to the truly cooperative members who
attended. Thank you all!
Members re-elected incumbent
Trustees Walter L. Sanders (District 1), Don E. Coker (District 2)
and Andy D. McKnight (District 3).
-
We
were pleased to announce that your co-op is returning $1.1 million
in capital credits this spring. Capital credits, representing our
extra revenues above operating expenses, are returned to members
when it is feasible - another benefit of the cooperative way to
doing business.
The opportunity of a lifetime
For the last 17 years, we
have employed a combination of technology and talent at Santee
Electric. You can rest assured that, whoever follows me as CEO,
they'll have a great group to support them. I'm especially proud of
my co-workers at SEC. I sincerely thank the membership, including
your member-elected Board of Trustees, for granting me the
opportunity of a lifetime.
At next year's Annual Meeting, I'll be
equally proud to stand among your ranks as a member of Santee
Electric Cooperative.
Floyd L. Keels
President and Chief Executive Officer
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