2022 Was a Big Year
March 2023Suwannee Valley Electric Cooperative accomplished a lot in 2022 that we can all be proud of. Here are just a few of the many standout moments we shared as a cooperative family over the last year:
January
SVEC, Seminole Electric Cooperative and the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences established a new facility to study the methods and benefits of indoor farming.
SVEC gave away 150 free green ash trees to co-op members at its fourth annual Florida Arbor Day celebration.
February
SVEC treated seven high school juniors to a 2-day tour of Tallahassee, where they learned about the state’s legislative and judicial processes.
March
SVEC began offering a new service that allows members to report and check on the status of outages via text message.
April
The first two recipients of full-ride scholarships provided by SVEC graduated from the Northwest Lineman College and began their careers at the co-op as apprentice lineworkers.
May
SVEC awarded $21,500 in scholarships to local high school seniors bound for colleges and vocational schools.
The co-op returned $1.1 million to its consumer-members through the retirement of capital credits.
The fifth annual Suwannee Valley Cornhole Tournament hosted by SVEC raised $5,208 for United Way of Suwannee Valley.
June
Morgan Griffin, from Jasper, represented SVEC at the National Rural Electric Youth Tour in Washington, D.C. There he joined young men and women from all over the country on visits to historic sights and meetings with elected officials.
July
SVEC announced its plan to build a fiber optic network for expanding its electric smart grid capabilities and offering high- speed internet service to members through its newly formed subsidiary, Rapid Fiber Internet, LLC.
Three employees graduated from the Apprentice Lineworker Program to become journeymen. Fifteen individuals have graduated from SVEC’s apprentice program since it began in 2014.
August
SVEC led the second annual Suwannee Valley Food Fight, where local organizations raised $1,325 and collected 1,549 pounds of food for the Florida Gateway Food Bank.
September
SVEC donated a surplus forklift to Lafayette County Emergency Management to help the agency receive and deliver supplies during emergencies.
October
Crews from SVEC spent a week in Cape Coral helping Lee County Electric Cooperative restore power in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian.
November
Nearly 600 children and adults had a blast at the co-op’s third annual Touch-A-Truck event.
Make-ready construction began on Phase 1 of SVEC’s fiber optic network.
December
Having worked 38,269 person hours during the year, co-op employees ended 2022 with no lost-time injuries.
Operation Round Up® closed out 2022 having awarded $104,152 in grants. Since the program began in 2019, more than $416,000 has been distributed to schools in our community.
