SouthEastern Illinois Electric Cooperative experienced a great turnout with approximately 1,280 registered members at it's 69th Annual Meeting of Members held Tuesday, August 7th at the Little Chapel Church.  For those members who were unable to attend, this month's column will provide you with an update on what is happening with the business you own.

The electric utility industry has experienced dramatic changes in the past few years.  Fortunately, these dramatic changes have not had a direct impact on you as Cooperative members and owners.  Under the current deregulation law in Illinois, investor-owned utility generation plants are no longer regulated by any entity and the market price of wholesale power for them is being driven by supply, demand and the ability to produce profits.  Your Cooperative is part owner of its own generation plant known as Southern Illinois Power Cooperative (SIPC) located at the Lake Of Egypt near Marion.  SIPC is operated just like your cooperative as a not-for-profit organization that charges just enough in the rates to cover the costs of operations.  The ownership in this generation cooperative has provided members with a more stable and lower cost energy solution in the past and we certainly feel this will continue in the deregulated marketplace of the future.

Your Cooperative accomplished a great deal in the year 2006 in order to provide electric service to new members and also increase the level of reliable service to all Cooperative Members.  These accomplishments included the installation of approximately 441 new services, 97 service upgrades, replacing approximately 48 miles of older distribution line, testing over 9,400 distribution poles, replacing over 265 bad poles, trimming trees growing into the distribution lines, installing over 22,000 automated meters and converting members from a self-read, self-billed system to an invoice system.  Your Cooperative continues to review its operations in an effort to enhance existing operations and maintenance programs, improve reliability and save expenses over the long term.  Your Cooperative is also investing in the future of your Cooperative by deploying new technologies that include the new Automated Meter Reading (AMR) system, new billing systems that provide more payment options for members and state of the art computer systems and software.  In summary, your Cooperative has invested over $119 million dollars in the distribution facilities that provide your service and spends over $5.7 million dollars annually in operating and maintaining your distribution facilities.

Due to the increasing costs of natural resources such as coal, carbon and natural gas that are used to generate your electricity, your Cooperative implemented a wholesale power cost adjustment charge in January 2007 to collect or refund what is necessary to cover the changes in the cost of wholesale power.  For the first 6 months of 2007, this charge averaged $1.48 per month for the average residence.  Upon review of the rates and the financial status of your Cooperative, the Board of Trustees have decided that there will be no general rate increase planned for the rest of 2007 and 2008. 

The future of the electric utility industry is faced with many challenges including the need for new generation plants and the increasing costs of natural resources.  Given this level of uncertainty in the future, all of us can be very proud to be a member of an electric cooperative that is operated as a not-for-profit organization that focuses on its members.  Your cooperative is governed and operated by local people that live and work in your very own communities.  Your cooperative remains committed to you, as cooperative member-owners, to provide reliable and quality service at rates that are as affordable and equitable as possible.

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See you next month and as always, "We'll keep the lights on for you."