Loyalty is a prized virtue-to country, family, even the schools we attend. We keep those ties strong throughout our lives, myself included: As a combat veteran, I still wear the flag and firmly support the military.

We at Santee Electric Cooperative also have loyalties, to the members and communities we serve. We have deep connections here because Clarendon, Georgetown, Florence and Williamsburg counties are our homes, and you are our neighbors.

When you signed up for service with Santee Electric Cooperative, you became a member, not a customer-because each of our 44,000 consumer-members owns a portion of the co-op.

That means we care about improving the quality of life in the areas we serve. From sponsoring the scoreboard at the high school football stadium to taking donations for the local food bank Santee Electric Cooperative invests in the places where you live and work.

Santee Electric Cooperative doesn't exist to make profits for distant investors on Wall Street. We exist to provide you with safe, reliable, and affordable electric service-and doing so in a way that makes things better for future generations. Because electric co-ops operate on a not-for-profit basis, we have no need to increase revenues above what it takes to run our business in a financially sound manner. This structure helps keep your electric bills affordable.

We take our jobs seriously, but we also take our community roles seriously, too. That's why we offer scholarships to college-bound students, and send two of high school juniors to Washington, D.C., every summer to learn about history and government.

We don't participate in these activities simply because it's nice to do, or even the right thing to do. We do it because we remain loyal to our members, our neighbors, our home-and have a mission to make life better in the areas we serve.

Floyd L. Keels
President and Chief Executive Officer