SVEC held its 81st annual meeting on Saturday, April 28 at the Suwannee County Agricultural Coliseum in Live Oak. The event was attended by about 700 people, including SVEC member-owners and their families and guests.
“Last year, we saw proof of just how well the cooperative system works,” said SVEC Board of Trustees President, Hugh Hunter in his speech. In 2017, we achieved our highest level of system reliability ever, stretched the amount of time worked without a lost-time injury to almost three and a half years, expanded the services we offer to our members, and increased our community involvement; all while continuing to build on a solid financial foundation. And as you know, we achieved all of those successes despite experiencing one of the biggest storms to hit our system – Hurricane Irma.”
Chief Executive Officer, Michael McWaters added some details about the co-op’s recent achievements related to the organization’s five core values: safety, positive member experience, outreach to community, reliability and economic viability. He made special note of the 1,291 consecutive days worked without a lost-time injury and the volunteer projects employees completed for ARC North Florida and Vivid Visions. McWaters also told those present that the lights came on 99.96% of the times a member flipped a switch in 2017, and member service reps answered about 26,000 calls during the year. Finally, he mentioned that members pay the same amount per kilowatt-hour in 2018 as they did in 2017.
Board of trustees Secretary, Tim Steichen told the audience that the cooperative maintains a strong financial footing and that the board has authorized a return of about $775,000 in capital credits to its members this year. SVEC has returned about $13.5 million in capital credits to its members since the co-op was founded in 1937.
Three of SVEC’s trustees were up for re-election at the meeting. Tyler Putnal was re-elected in District 4, Sidney Lord in District 5 and Andy Walker in District 6.