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SECO News, November 2018

DUNCAN’S DIGEST

 

CAPITAL CREDITS

 

They say money doesn’t grow on trees, but as a member, your 2018 Capital Credits retirement has sprouted and arrives in your November bill.

May 2018 SECO News Duncan's Digest

 

You, along with 200,000+ residents are members of a not-for-profit cooperative founded in 1938 as Sumter Electric Cooperative with just 500 members. Things have changed over the years. Those meager roots planted 80 years ago have thrived.

 

Your membership branches into ownership through energy purchases – the proverbial fertilizer of patronage capital. Ownership is defined through the annual process of allocating each member’s share of the co-op’s margins from the prior year. The annual amounts for each member who purchases electric service during the year are referred to as Capital Credit allocations.

 

Capital Credits are the accumulation of all prior year’s revenue after the co-op’s operating costs and expenses are paid. These credits are allocated on a pro-rata basis to each SECO Energy member’s account as Capital Credits.

 

During its October meeting, SECO’s Board of Trustees approved a record $5.5 million to be returned (retired) to members. Since SECO’s inception, the co-op has retired more than $63.3 million to current and former members. This year’s Capital Credits return is rooted in sound financial stewardship by SECO’s Board, the leadership team and our dedicated employees.

 

Each member receiving a 2018 Capital Credits retirement will see the amount on their spruced-up November billing statement listed as a line item labeled “Capital Credits Ret.” Business members with retirements over $1,000 will receive a check. If you move out of SECO territory, keep your mailing address updated so we can send future Capital Credit retirements.

 

Sincerely,

 

Jim Duncan

Chief Executive Officer

 

 

 

SECO Champions November 2018
Meet two SECO Champions – Melissa and Matthew – two examples of our 400+ SECO Champion employees. Melissa and Matthew are dedicated to providing exceptional service to members, co-workers and communities.

 

MELISSA LACASSE – SYSTEM CONTROL COORDINATOR

 

LENGTH OF SERVICE – 25 YEARS

 

“My job is awesome.”

 

 

SECO Champion Melissa Lacasse is a System Control Coordinator at our SECO Headquarters who is responsible for monitoring the power delivery to SECO’s over 200,000 members. SECO’s System Control Coordinators work shifts around-the-clock, 365 days a year directing line technicians to service calls throughout our 2,100-square mile territory. Melissa and her family (her husband Ken is also a SECO employee) are long-time residents of Marion County. They enjoy football, boating and spearfishing. During Melissa’s 25-year SECO career, she has worked as a Member Services Representative, Meter Reader, Line Technician and a System Control Coordinator. “At SECO, we are a tight-knit group, whether at work or in the communities we serve. My family was thrilled when SECO hired me, and it is a blessing to work at SECO.”

 

MATTHEW DIXON – SERVICE TECHNICIAN

 

LENGTH OF SERVICE – 12 YEARS

 

“I enjoy helping people.”

 

 

SECO Champion Matthew Dixon is a Service Technician who responds to service calls and works to restore members’ power safely. Matthew’s work area covers Bushnell, Inverness, Lady Lake, The Villages and Webster. Originally from Dallas (yes, he’s a Cowboys fan), he moved to Central Florida in 1991 and joined the SECO team in 2006. Matthew, his wife, five children and 15 grandchildren attend church together where he plays bass guitar. Matthew credits his enjoyment of helping people as the reason he became a SECO Line Technician. He is prepared to respond to outage calls day or night and the appreciation he receives from members keeps him going. Watch Matthew’s video on our YouTube Channel to learn how he got the nickname “Hollywood.”

 

 

 

Safe Decorating November 2018 SECO News

SAFE DECORATING

 

‘TIS THE SEASON to spread goodwill and cheer while impressing your neighbors with your Christmas creativity.

 

For your safety, SECO prohibits Christmas décor or other attachments on its poles or decorative lights. Never place a ladder against a SECO area light or pole – you can damage the pole or suffer an electric shock.

 

Please share your Christmas joy with your neighbors, but refrain from including SECO facilities in your festive design. Decorate safely this season – Merry Christmas!

 

 

 

Holiday Energy Efficiency November 2018

HOLIDAY ENERGY EFFICIENCY

 

The holidays are just around the corner which means extra baking and cooking, along with holiday decorations. Don’t forget about energy efficiency while you are celebrating your families’ holiday traditions.

 

When baking, resist opening the oven door. Each time the door opens, the oven’s temperature can drop as much as 25 degrees which can add cooking time. Another tip – if a recipe calls for baking time over one hour – don’t waste the time and energy it takes to preheat the oven.

 

Most of us love bright, twinkling holiday lights – be sure to choose LEDs. These are more efficient, last longer and are safer than older incandescent lights. LEDs use less energy and produce less heat than standard incandescent lights.

 

Here’s to a happy, healthy, energy-efficient holiday season!

 

 

 

Toys for Tots SECO News November 2018

TOYS FOR TOTS

 

Would you like a chance to play Santa for local children in need of Christmas gifts? SECO Energy’s five Member Service Centers are available to the public as U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Program drop-off locations.

 

Join the SECO crew in donating a new, unwrapped toy or two for Toys for Tots at a Member Service Center in Eustis, Groveland, Inverness, Ocala or Sumterville. SECO will gather toys through the first week of December.

 

As a not-for-profit electric cooperative, SECO is dedicated to the communities it serves. Our employees are ever-so-generous in their support of Toys for Tots and other community endeavors for which they volunteer their personal time. Thousands of children will wake up to presents under the tree on Christmas morning thanks to our employees’ and members’ giving spirit.

 

Read the full November 2018 SECO News online.

SECO Energy District 7 Members Elect New Trustee Joseph E. Kusiak

On Thursday, October 25, members who attended SECO Energy’s District 7 Special Meeting voted to elect Joseph E. Kusiak to represent their District and the members at large on SECO Energy’s Board of Trustees. The Special Meeting was held in the District to fill the Board vacancy after former Trustee Rob Henion resigned in August.

 

Originally from Massachusetts, Mr. Kusiak and his wife, Carmen, became SECO members after moving from Bronson to Dunnellon in 2002. Mr. Kusiak is an attorney, who has over 30 years of military experience – in the Army and the Air Force. Mr. Kusiak holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Math from American International College, and a Juris Doctor Degree in Law from New England School of Law.

 

SECO Energy is a not-for-profit electric cooperative, operated for and owned by its members. SECO members elect their fellow members to SECO’s nine-member Board of Trustees. Collectively, the Board represents the SECO membership, meeting monthly to monitor the financial status of the cooperative while providing fiduciary oversight and participating in policy decisions that serve the best interests of the members at large.

 

Members in District 7 gathered at the Rainbow Lakes Estates Community Center in Dunnellon to elect a new District 7 Trustee to serve the remainder of Mr. Henion’s three-year term. In September, Reverend Harold N. Damon from Ocala and Mr. Joseph E. Kusiak from Dunnellon both submitted a letter of intent to run, and expressed their willingness to represent the members of District 7.

 

Kusiak stated, “District 7 members, thank you for your votes and for trusting me to act as your District 7 representative on the SECO Energy Board of Trustees. I am looking forward to what I believe will be a new, interesting experience as a SECO Trustee. My wife and I enjoy attending SECO’s Annual Meeting, the employees do a great job and I am excited to lend the SECO team a hand through my Board service.”

 

CEO Jim Duncan stated, “I congratulate Mr. Kusiak on his successful election and I also want to thank Reverend Damon for his willingness to serve as well. With the Board’s guidance, SECO has enjoyed a decade of improved reliability, highest member satisfaction ratings, a high growth rate and strong financial results. Mr. Kusiak is a welcome addition to the Board, and I look forward to working with him and our current Board members.”

 

Visit Your Co-op page online for photos and brief bios of the Trustees along with an interactive District map. “Like” SECO’s Facebook page and “follow” @SECOEnergy on Twitter for news releases and cooperative updates.

SECO Energy Board Compensation Statement

SECO Energy was founded in 1938 as Sumter Electric Cooperative, Inc., a small not-for-profit rural electric utility serving a few hundred folks in the Webster area. Over the years, sound financial management, appropriate governance policies and economic growth in Central Florida have resulted in the cooperative doing business today as a fiscally sound SECO Energy with a membership of more than 205,000 residents and business owners across seven counties.

 

Cooperatives in Florida are legislated by Florida Statute Chapter 425. Not only is SECO Energy in full compliance with the Florida statute, the cooperative also adheres largely to Florida Public Service Commission guidelines developed for investor-owned utilities (although cooperatives are not technically required by statute to do so). SECO also files its rate tariffs for approval and emergency response plan outline annually with the PSC.

 

SECO Energy’s member-elected Board of Trustees are fairly compensated for their service and the cooperative’s election guidelines make it easy for an interested party’s name to appear on the ballot. A potential candidate simply notifies SECO in writing of intention to run. No signatures or nominations are necessary.

 

The potential Trustee candidate must reside in the District, cannot be closely related to another Trustee or employee and must meet very general eligibility requirements per the SECO Energy Bylaws. In fact, four of the nine current Trustees have been elected to the Board in the last eight years. The cooperative encourages election participation at District Meetings and holds an Annual Meeting as required by Florida Statute. In 2018, SECO Energy’s Annual Meeting drew a crowd of nearly 7,000.

 

Once elected, Trustees are compensated for each monthly Board of Trustee meeting. The amount covers meeting attendance and the study time needed to prepare for Board meetings. The compensation is standard for this region and for a Board responsible for governance and the financial oversight associated with a company of this size with $855 million in utility plant. SECO Energy is the third largest cooperative in Florida and the seventh largest in the nation.

 

SECO Energy Trustees are not provided with company-paid health, dental or vision insurance or pension/retirement benefits. Trustees are encouraged to participate in trainings and conferences to provide the education needed to govern and oversee the utility.

 

For trainings/conferences, transportation type and dates/time is limited to the most economical. Overstaying of training/conference dates at company expense is not permitted. The cooperative’s policies prohibit the coverage or reimbursement of spouse or family member travel or entertainment expenses if they accompany a Trustee to a conference or training.

 

Board meeting dates and times are published two months in advance in our monthly edition of SECO News which is mailed with billing statements and posted on social media and SECOEnergy.com. Members are welcome to attend any meeting in its entirety (with the exception of executive sessions) and can examine the minutes of any past board meeting. Board of Trustee compensation records are released publicly as required in the cooperative’s Form 990. The cooperative publishes an Annual Report as well. SECO Energy is an award-winning utility in customer satisfaction.

 

SECO Energy has retired Capital Credits regularly as a true not-for-profit electric cooperative should. Capital Credits are the accumulation of all prior year’s revenue after the co-op’s operating costs and expenses have been paid. These credits are allocated on a pro-rata basis to each SECO Energy member’s account as “Capital Credits” and represent a portion of the member’s patronage with the cooperative in the prior fiscal year.

 

During its September 2017 meeting, SECO’s Board of Trustees approved a record $5.4 million Capital Credits retirement to be returned (retired) to members. Since SECO Energy’s inception, the co-op has retired more than $57.8 million to current and former members. Capital Credits returns are made possible by the sound financial stewardship of SECO’s Board, leadership team and flock of dedicated, cost-conscious employees. The cooperative anticipates (with Board of Trustee approval, of course) another healthy Capital Credits retirement at year end 2018.

SECO Energy Board of Trustees Elects 2018 Officers

SECO Energy’s Board of Trustees elected its 2018 officers during the regularly scheduled Trustees’ Meeting on Monday, April 23. The Board voted District 9 Trustee Jerry Hatfield as President; District 4 Trustee Richard Dennison as Vice President; and District 8 Trustee Bill James as Secretary-Treasurer.

 

SECO Energy Board of Trustees Elects 2018 Officers

 

As a not-for-profit electric cooperative, SECO Energy is operated for and owned by the members it serves. SECO members elect their fellow members to SECO’s nine-member Board of Trustees. Collectively, the Board represents the SECO membership, meeting monthly to monitor the financial status of the cooperative while providing fiduciary oversight and participating in policy decisions that serve the best interests of the members at large.

 

Board Elected Officers 2018

 

Newly elected President Hatfield is a long-time Lake County resident, and became a SECO member in 1971. Hatfield has represented District 9 members on SECO’s Board of Trustees since first being elected in 2000. Mr. Hatfield was re-elected as District 9 Trustee in February 2018, and most recently served as Vice President.

 

District 4 Trustee Dennison elected as Vice President has been a member since 1999, and was first elected to the Board of Trustees in 2015 when a former Trustee stepped down. Dennison was re-elected as District 4 Trustee in February 2017.

 

A SECO member since 2002, Secretary-Treasurer James resides in Leesburg, and was first elected as the District 8 Trustee serving on SECO Energy’s Board in 2010. James was re-elected District 8 Trustee in February this year.

 

Hatfield stated, “I would like to thank my fellow Board members on my election as President. Serving SECO members as a Board of Trustee is a distinct honor, and I appreciate the trust my fellow members have placed in me and my peers to govern our Cooperative. I eagerly assume the duties of President and look forward to continuing my Board service.”

 

Visit our Board of Trustees page for photos and brief bios of the Trustees along with an interactive District map. “Like” SECO’s Facebook page and “follow” @SECOEnergy on Twitter for news releases and cooperative updates.

SECO Serves As Starting Leg of Special Olympics Run

On Wednesday morning, SECO Energy’s employees eagerly cheered for the participants of the annual Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics. Sumter County’s leg of the Torch Run started at SECO Energy’s headquarters located at SR 470 and Highway 301 for the third consecutive year.

 

For decades, more than 300 different Florida law enforcement agencies carried the “Flame of Hope” torch on a 1,500-mile relay through all 67 counties in Florida. The state’s “Final Leg” of the Torch Run opens the State of Florida’s Special Olympics Summer Games to over 44,400 athletes on Friday, May 18 at Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Lake Buena Vista.

 

Sumter County Sheriff’s Office Community Outreach Coordinator, Beth Hunt stated, “The Sheriff’s Office has participated in the Sumter County leg of the Special Olympics for over twenty years including Tip A Cops and Torch Runs. The support from the Sheriff’s Office and the community helps provide year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities. This gives them continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness and demonstrate courage. I would like to thank SECO for helping us make The Torch Run a success.”

 

Various branches of law enforcement officers throughout the county jumped on bicycles to trek 11 miles from SECO to SCARC Inc., a group home in Bushnell for the disabled.

 

SECO’s Vice President of Corporate Services & Human Resources Gregg Morrell stated, “Hosting the Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics this year is an honor for SECO Energy, its Board of Trustees and our employees. The Torch Run is a unique opportunity to support two organizations; our local Sumter County Sheriff’s Office and Special Olympics. Now more than ever before, communities must band together to bolster the men and women in uniform who keep us safe.”

 

Morrell added, “Special Olympics is a unique organization that offers people with intellectual disabilities the opportunity to compete in Olympic-type sporting events regardless of their personal limitations. Special Olympics brings its special athletes and their communities together through sports activities.”

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Visit SECO’s Community page to learn more about its community outreach programs. “Like” SECO’s Facebook page and “follow” @SECOEnergy on Twitter for news releases and cooperative updates.

SECO Trustee Muffett Recognized for Seminole Board Service

SECO Energy’s wholesale provider Seminole Electric, Inc. commended SECO’s District 6 Trustee Earl Muffett for his willingness to serve as a Seminole Trustee. Seminole’s CEO Lisa Johnson lauded Mr. Muffett’s Board service with a commemorative plaque and a letter of recognition. Mr. Muffett completed his 16-year tenure as a SECO Energy delegate on the Seminole Board in March 2017.

 

Mr. Muffett lives in Summerfield and is actively self-employed. After first becoming a SECO member in 1979, Mr. Muffett was elected to the SECO Board of Trustees in 1990. During his 27 years of service, Muffett was appointed as the Board’s Vice President, and was named a Seminole Voting Delegate, Seminole Alternate Delegate and Statewide Voting Delegate. Muffett was re-elected as District 6 Trustee by SECO members in February 2017.

 

As a not-for-profit electric cooperative, SECO’s nine Board of Trustees are members themselves who collectively serve as the members’ representatives within SECO. Through his work on SECO’s and Seminole’s Board, Mr. Muffett has devoted much of his free time in overseeing policies and procedures that allow SECO and Seminole to provide safe, reliable, affordable power to SECO members.

 

Seminole CEO Lisa Johnson states, “On behalf of Seminole, I express my most sincere gratitude for your service to Seminole as a member of our Board. It is so important for Seminole, and all cooperatives, to have willing, engaged individuals, like you, to serve in the critical role of Board Trustee to carry out the governance and fiduciary responsibilities required in support of our cooperative business model.”

 

Trustee Muffett states, “I am proud to have played a role in Seminole’s success and growth during my long-term service on Seminole’s Board. As a local business owner myself, I understand the complexity of business ownership and leadership, and how local businesses enrich the economy. It is refreshing to work with SECO Energy and Seminole cooperatives that believe offering members affordable, reliable power and excellent customer service are a top priority.”

 

“Like” SECO’s Facebook page and “follow” the company on Twitter for news releases and cooperative updates.

Members Re-elect Earl Muffett District 6 Trustee

On Tuesday, February 7, members voted to re-elect Earl Muffett to represent District 6 on SECO Energy’s Board of Trustees. Muffett has been a SECO member since 1979 and has served on the Board for over 25 years.

 

As a not-for-profit electric cooperative, SECO members vote for the person they choose to represent the members in a particular district and to make governance decisions that serve the best interests of the members at large. SECO’s Board of Trustees are members themselves and provide governance and financial oversight to the cooperative.

 

A crowd of members gathered at the Village View Community Church in Summerfield to cast their vote for the representative of their choice. Both Muffett and Oxford resident Michael Tucker had submitted their letter of intent in January and expressed a willingness to serve.

 

Muffett stated, “I am excited to continue my board service and be a strong representative for District 6 members as I have for over 25 years. Thank you to all members in my district who believe I am the best choice to represent them. I look forward to continuing my work on the Board with my fellow trustees and representing the members of District 6.”

 

CEO Jim Duncan stated, “I would like to congratulate Mr. Muffett, and I am proud to work with him and his board peers. With the Board’s guidance, SECO has kept members’ rates low, upgraded our system to offer members world-class reliability and earned two consecutive J.D. Power awards for member satisfaction. As a CEO, I couldn’t ask for a better Board to work with, and I am thankful for their service.”

 

View photos of the Trustees and a District map online. “Like” SECO’s Facebook page and “follow” @SECOEnergy on Twitter for news releases and cooperative updates.