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SECO Energy Joins Hurricane Idalia Restoration Effort

SECO Energy is lending a hand to a fellow Florida cooperative Tri-County Electric Cooperative in Madison. Tri-County’s service area was ravaged by Hurricane Idalia as it made landfall in the Big Bend area on Wednesday, August 30. When Tri-County put out the call for mutual aid from its fellow cooperatives, SECO Energy answered the call to join the restoration effort in the Panhandle. 

 

On Friday, September 1, a contingent of SECO Energy line employees, a superintendent, a supervisor and mechanic, left the Ocala Operations Center on their way to Tri-County Electric Cooperative. Tri-County serves almost 25,000 members in Jefferson, Madison and Taylor Counties. This area includes some of the most devastated areas in the state. Currently, almost 30,000 homes and businesses are without power in Tri-County Electric’s three-county service territory.  

 

Cooperation Among Cooperatives and Concern for Community are two of the Seven Cooperative Principles to which cooperatives adhere. Providing mutual aid in the form of experienced technicians and other resources is critical for restoring essential electric service to all residents affected by Hurricane Idalia.  

 

SECO Energy also released seven full-time Pike contract crews that are stationed at SECO to Suwannee Valley Electric Cooperative (SVEC) in Live Oak, Florida. SVEC serves more than 28,000 members in Columbia, Hamilton, Lafayette and Suwannee Counties. Over 40,000 members are waiting for power restoration in these four counties. 

 

CEO Curtis Wynn is pleased to assist SECO Energy’s cooperative peers. Wynn stated, “We are extremely thankful that SECO Energy’s service area and members were spared the brunt of Hurricane Idalia’s destruction. It is our privilege to assist both Tri-County Electric Cooperative and Suwannee Valley Electric Cooperative. When we asked for volunteers to travel to these hurricane-devastated areas, many of our team members volunteered quickly to assist.” 

 

“During major storm repairs, mutual aid is a tenet that leads our cooperative and others across the state. We are praying for our teams’ safety and that of all utility workers who are traveling and working to make Floridian’s lives better every day.” 

 

“Like” SECO Energy on Facebook and follow @SECOEnergy on X (formerly, Twitter) for news releases, and severe weather alerts affecting SECO Energy’s service territory. Manage your outage notification preferences at StormCenter. To see when SECO Energy crews and contractors are working in your area, visit the System Improvement map. To learn more about SECO Energy as a not-for-profit cooperative, visit SECOEnergy.com > Your Co-op > About. 

SECO Energy Recovers from Hurricane Idalia

SECO Energy is recovering from Hurricane Idalia as the storm’s outer rain bands and tropical storm-force winds moved across its Central Florida service area. SECO employees and contracted line and tree crews worked overnight Tuesday into Wednesday through inclement weather to restore service to members affected by power outages. SECO welcomed almost 500 mutual aid crews to aid in the restoration effort. 

 

In the last 24 hours, just over 10,400 members experienced a service interruption due to Hurricane Idalia. As of 12:00 p.m., just over 600 accounts remain out of service. The hurricane made landfall near Keaton Beach at 7:45 a.m., sparing Central Florida from the heaviest winds and most severe damage imposed by the hurricane. Idalia’s wind and rain bands extended into the SECO Energy service territory late Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning as it moved north, nearly 100 miles west of Tampa Bay. 

 

The Big Bend of Florida took the brunt of Hurricane Idalia’s Category 3 winds and unprecedented storm surge that pummeled the shoreline from Cedar Key to Horseshoe Beach. Extreme wind warnings were issued to parts of Taylor and Madison County, including the towns of Perry, Steinhatchee, Lee, Madison, Hanson and Pinetta. 

  

CEO Curtis Wynn was grateful for the limited impact Hurricane Idalia had on the not-for-profit electric cooperative’s 230,000+ members and praised the SECO team and mutual aid crews for their preparation. Wynn stated, “Our team was exceptionally well-prepared for Hurricane Idalia and their response was second to none. We caught a break – Hurricane Idalia could have turned east and left us with massive outages and destruction. There is no guarantee with the weather. StormReady means that we prepare for and are ready for emergencies that storms often create. We bring in the appropriate number of outside contractors and, with our own team of employees, apply the appropriate response plan.” 

 

StormCenter is SECO Energy’s outage and communications platform for members to report outages, check the status of an existing outage and enroll in outage communications and alerts via email, text, voice or all three. Visit StormCenter and bookmark it on your smartphone or tablet to report outages quickly and easily. 

 

SECO Energy’s Hurricane Handbook includes how to prepare before, during and after a storm. “Like” SECO Energy on Facebook and follow @SECOEnergy on X (formerly, Twitter) for news releases, and severe weather alerts affecting SECO Energy’s service territory. Manage your outage notification preferences at StormCenter. To see when SECO Energy crews and contractors are working in your area, visit the System Improvement map. To learn more about SECO Energy as a not-for-profit cooperative, visit SECOEnergy.com > Your Co-op > About.

SECO Energy Donates Bucket Truck to Lake-Sumter State College

SECO Energy is a Central Florida not-for-profit cooperative that is one of the top ten employers in Sumter County, offering competitive wages, generous benefits, a defined-benefit pension and a robust paid-time-off program. As a co-op, SECO Energy is also focused on community involvement and partnerships.

 

“Over a decade ago, SECO Energy recognized a private/public partnership potential with Lake-Sumter State College to train an important part of our workforce. SECO helped finance the inception of the college’s electric utility lineworker program, from which a number of our employees graduated,” said Jim Duncan, CEO.

 

The donation effort was led by SECO’s Manager of Safety & Risk Management Steve Balius. As the Chairman for Lake-Sumter State College’s (LSSC) Engineering Technology Advisory Committee and committee member for the Electrical Distribution Technology program, Balius knew the college’s aging bucket truck wouldn’t continue to prepare students for the world-of-work much longer. When he learned SECO was retiring a bucket truck from its fleet, he went to work connecting the dots. Balius is excited for the donation opportunity and stated, “I am thankful for the generosity of SECO’s Board of Trustees in approving the donation.”

 

Duncan stated, “Today, it is our pleasure to contribute again to the Lake-Sumter State College’s program by donating this bucket truck. It will provide hands-on, real-life experience to students earning their Associates of Science in Electrical Distribution Technology. This program helps SECO too. Line techs who have been with the company for 30 plus years are starting to retire. We want to replace them with local students who want to stay in the area, work for a competitive growing company and raise their families here. For that reason, we felt that breathing new life into our partnership with Lake-Sumter State College with the truck donation was a sound investment.”

 

“We are excited to receive this bucket truck donation from SECO,” said LSSC President Dr. Stan Sidor. “SECO is a strong local partner and this partnership allows us to enhance our EDT program’s ability to train and prepare our students and ultimately support the workforce and our community.”

 

Learn more about SECO Energy and its Concern for Community on our Community page. “Like” SECO’s Facebook page and “follow” @SECOEnergy on Twitter for news releases and cooperative updates.