CEO’s Message: The Best-Laid Plans

December 2024

Thoughtful planning has always been a priority for our system. Whether it’s laying out a road map for our co-op over the next year, setting the groundwork for long-term investments that will improve service for our consumer members or simply reviewing our Emergency Restoration Plan before hurricane season, Suwannee Valley Electric Cooperative is always readying that next step.

Looking back on the last year, though, I’m reminded that there are some things no amount of planning can prepare you for. Late last year, Hurricane Idalia caused record-breaking damage to our electric system. Over the following 13 months, our system was battered by storm after storm, culminating with Hurricane Helene, which was even more powerful than Idalia.

While no one can predict a parade of storms like that, we can and did plan for how to respond to them. Since organizing the large-scale response to Hurricane Idalia last year, our team at SVEC has gotten pretty good at managing restoration efforts for even the biggest storms. Hurricane Helene was no different.

In this issue, you can read more about the extent of the damage after Helene and the effort that went into restoring power to most consumer-members in less than a week. As always, we would like to thank our fellow cooperatives and contractors for their aid during a difficult time, and our consumer-members for your patience as crews worked night and day to get the lights back on.

You’ll also find some photos and information about what goes into restoring Rapid Fiber Internet service after a major storm. It’s a slower process since our fiber technicians must wait for electricity to be restored in an area of the system before they can begin making repairs, but one we will continue to make faster and more efficient in years to come.

It’s also a reminder that for all the challenges of the last year, we have a great deal to be proud of as a cooperative. Rapid Fiber Internet service continues to expand to more customers, bringing high-speed internet to areas that have not had access. We have continued to help local students through Operation Round Up® and hosted several popular community events.

That’s the power of a cooperative community, and I could not be prouder to be a part of this one. I’d like to wish all of you a merry Christmas and a happy and healthy new year. We may not be able to predict everything 2025 will have in store, but you can rest assured that SVEC will continue to strengthen our system so we can bring you the reliable service you deserve.