CEO’s Message: What Guides Us

August 2024

Many of us have our own core principles that guide the decisions we make each day. They might come from our faith, a piece of advice that has stuck with us or just what our own conscience tells us.

Cooperatives are no different. No matter what service they offer or where they might be located, all cooperatives are built around the same seven cooperative principles, each designed to put the people we serve first.

Suwannee Valley Electric Cooperative is no exception. Regular readers will know I’ve gone deeper on each of those seven principles right here in this column at various times. But we haven’t stopped there. Years ago, we went a step further and established a few principles of our own that guide our specific mission at SVEC.

Collectively, we refer to those principles as SMORE: Safety, Member Experience, Outreach to Community, Reliability, and Economic Viability. Safety, of course, comes first since so many SVEC employees work around high-voltage lines. But you may have noticed that second only to that is the member experience.

Placing it so high serves as a reminder to all of us that our consumer- members are the reason for everything we do. Whether we’re working directly with you at the office or indirectly by restoring and improving the electric service we provide, it’s all about the people we serve. We are here because of you, and we continuously think about how we can make your experience with the cooperative better.

Our member services team is on the front line of that effort, always looking for new ways to make your business with SVEC quicker and more convenient. They do an incredible job each day, but it isn’t always possible for our members to come talk to them face-to-face or make time for a phone call. That’s why we also have a suite of tools to help you better manage your account when and how it’s convenient for you, whether at home or on the go.

In this newsletter, you can learn more about those tools and services. Some of them you may be familiar with, while others will likely be new to anyone who hasn’t explored what’s available for a while. I encourage everyone to take some time to learn about them. You may even find new ways to save time and money.

You’ll also find some information about an upcoming blood drive here at the SVEC office and an update on the recently completed Washington, D.C. electric cooperative Youth Tour. Providing this amazing opportunity for local students is always a highlight of the year and something we’re proud to be a part of.

I hope all of you are proud to be part of a cooperative that makes sure to keep its guiding principles front of mind. It isn’t always the easy way to do things, but it is the right way. And that’s what we strive for.