What happened to the year? Things change so quickly, and everyone is very busy, making time fly faster than ever. Just recently we were talking about our annual meeting and the important things that happened at our cooperative. Now, it's that time again to reflect on and celebrate a jam-packed year.
Community Strong
Our cooperative made several low-interest loans from our Revolving Loan Fund (RLF), an economic development program to support our local economy. One loan was to The Roost Grace - Grits - Gifts in Afton. We also awarded $9,000 in scholarships to 17 local graduates. Our Operation Round-Up program granted funds for improvements to eight entities: South Central Iowa Theatre, Leon; The City of Murray; Little River Scenic Pathway, Leon; Clarke County Historical Society; Clarke County Hospital, Osceola; and three families in need.
Board Strong
We lost a dedicated longtime board member, Bill Willis in April, 2022.
Natalie Rydl stepped in to fill the open district 1 board seat until she ran for election at last year’s annual meeting. Lydda Youmans, another committed and longtime board member, acquired her Board Leadership Certification emphasizing the cooperative principle of education, training and information.
The Board of Directors allocated $634,672 to our members in patronage dividends to be paid to cooperative members on a 20-year rotation schedule.
Operations Strong
The challenges of delays for materials and equipment continued to plague the cooperative in 2022, while prices for critical equipment continued to increase. Our employees became very resourceful meeting these challenges while minimizing the impact on our members.
Our operations and engineering staff continued to improve our distribution system. They performed equipment maintenance in the Murray, I-35 and Hopeville substations, and installed new equipment to improve the reliability of your electric service. With the use of contractors and our linemen, we built three phase lines to new hog confinements and other businesses. We completed line improvements connecting our Derby and Humeston substations. And, we cleared trees and sprayed trees and brush in the right-of-way to help reduce the number of outages and outage durations.
Our cooperative began researching a new metering system as electric service becomes more advanced and complicated. It will eliminate the radio frequency system and utilize a more reliable cellular system. Installation of new meters is slated for late 2023 or early 2024.
We also had a few curve balls in 2022. In March, we endured tornadoes that swept through our service territory. We also weathered strong winds and storms that caused damage to our system periodically throughout the rest of the year. There were additional outages caused by vehicles, agricultural equipment, and fires.
As the summer months approached, we prepared for our first potential power-grid curtailment due to expected high demand. These types of warnings are, unfortunately, likely to be more prevalent as federal directives support closure of dependable fossil-fuel based generation for intermittent renewable energy generation.
So, fasten your seatbelts because although 2022 is in our rearview mirrors, 2023 is racing ahead with no signs of slowing down. Our team will continue to work efficiently and resourcefully so that we can provide you with the safe, affordable and reliable power you need.
Before you know it, I will be sending you an invitation to next year’s annual meeting. In the meantime, please vote for board representation and if your schedule allows, plan to attend our drive-through annual meeting Sept. 11.