This being our 80th anniversary has truly given us reason to celebrate!
Like a fine wine or grandma’s cast iron skillet, your co-op has only gotten better with age. For these last 80 years we’ve grown alongside our membership continually adapting, innovating and preparing for the future of our communities. That’s why we’re stronger than ever before.
This past year, we’ve made great strides towards completing the installation of our fiber optic ring between our offices and substations. Deploying this technology will improve communication speed across our system which means improved service and reliability for our members.
And in the spirit of the holidays, I think this would be a good time to use a little twist on the old adage, “you can have your cake and eat it too.” While we are installing the fiber for our own operations, there could also be the opportunity to partner with third parties to bring broadband access to underserved parts of our communities. It could mean more resources for students, access to telemedicine, remote job opportunities and less buffering during your Netflix binges.
What else do you have to look forward to? Well, we will be installing new responsive meters throughout our system for the next few years. This will mean shorter outage times since we’ll know your power is out before you even pick up the phone. For those of you who check your Fitbit religiously, these new meters also provide you with an incredible amount of data (like hourly usage!) and will deliver it straight to your fingertips through SmartHub. This extra information means that you’ll have a better idea of how to save energy and we’ll know how to better serve you.
We wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season! We are honored to serve you and we likewise thank you for your support for these last 80 years and the next 80 to come!