CEO’s Message: When We Save, You Save
September 2021By Michael S. McWaters, Executive V.P./CEO
These days, it seems like everyone is looking for ways to save energy. Whether it’s to reduce the impact on the environment or just to try and save some money on the electric bill, we all want to be more efficient with our energy usage.
The same is true for your cooperative. You may have noticed that we often use the pages of this newsletter to share easy ways to be energy efficient around the house. We also offer a variety of tools and information on our website to help our consumer-members save energy and money.
But the most important part of our energy-efficiency efforts is probably our partnership with our power provider Seminole Electric Cooperative. Much like you are a consumer-member of Suwannee Valley Electric Cooperative (SVEC), we are a Seminole member. As a member, we share the cost of generating electricity with other distribution cooperatives.
In recent years, Seminole has taken great strides toward establishing a cleaner energy mix for its member cooperatives. Six years ago, the co-op made the decision to replace one of the coal units at the Seminole Generating Station in Putnam County with a state-of-the-art natural gas-fired combined cycle facility that will be more efficient and produce more power.
It’s an exciting project for all of us who rely on Seminole for our electricity, and I’m happy to share that construction crews reached the halfway mark this summer. Reaching that important milestone means everything is on track for the facility to be up and bringing you efficient electric power by the end of next year.
You can read more about the Seminole Combined Cycle Facility in this newsletter, as well as the impact it will have on our overall energy mix in the coming years.
We’re also excited to introduce three new members of the SVEC family. Evan Fuller has come aboard as an apprentice dispatcher, while Maci Brown and Brittany Townsend both join the cooperative as part-time cashiers. If you see them at our office, be sure to say hi and make them feel welcome.
Other welcome news is that it’s time again for one of our favorite new traditions: the annual Suwannee Valley Cornhole Tournament. Last year, 30 teams across the competitive and novice brackets came together to raise more than $5,000 for United Way. We want this year’s event to be even bigger and better, so don’t forget to register or contact us to become a sponsor.
I hope to see you there, and I hope the fall gets off to a wonderful start for all of our consumer-members. Together, we can build a more efficient electric system to serve this great community.
