Covington Electric Cooperative Board of Trustees Charles Grace District I - Dozier
Dr. Bill King Asst. Sec./Treas. District II - Andalusia
W.B. Smith Chairman District III - Brantley
C. Heflin Smith Vice Chairman District IV - Kinston
Trey Martin District V - Enterprise
Patricia Janasky Sec./Treas. District VI - Samson
Headquarters: 18836 US Hwy 84 Andalusia, AL 36421 334-222-4121 1-800-239-4121 Fax: 334-222-1546 Main/Enterprise Office Hours: 7:30 AM - 4:30 PM Monday - Friday covington.coop Report Power Outages 1-800-239-1193
4 JULY 2022
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The neighborhood is
BUZZING
By Ed Short, CEC President, CEO and General Manager Some members could be wondering why we got into the internet business again when we launched Buzz Broadband last year. After all, we’re an electric cooperative. What does high-speed fiber have to do with electricity? But the truth is that while Covington Electric will always be dedicated to bringing our members affordable and reliable electric service, we are a cooperative first and foremost. That means our members aren’t just customers, they’re a part of everything we do. As such, we can’t stop at just doing what we have always done. If there is a need in our community that we can fill, it’s part of our cooperative mission to do that. That is what we’ve been up to ever since construction officially started on our Buzz Broadband network last October. It’s no secret that high-speed internet isn’t the luxury it was just 10 years ago. Today, it’s an essential part of helping our community keep up in business, education, health care and more. So we’d like to take a moment to update you on where the rollout of Buzz Broadband currently stands. At the time of this writing, service has expanded to our members in Wing, Sanford, Kinston and Red Level. By the time you read this, the Carolina and Enterprise areas will both be added to the list. All of that is on top of the middle mile project that was already completed to connect all of Covington Electric’s substations with high-speed fiber. That connection will allow us to monitor our system with up-to-the-second data and restore power for our members even faster. Fiber crews have made good progress over the last nine months and we’re proud of the work they have done in the face of economic challenges. As is the case with every industry right now, they have faced supply chain setbacks. They’ve also overcome contract labor shortages to help keep the expansion of this network on schedule. Even with those difficulties, we’re excited to let everyone know that we fully expect to meet the original goal we set of making Buzz
Broadband available to every member who wants it within two years. Since construction on the middle mile project began in June 2021, that means all of our members can look forward to having access to the fastest internet speeds available by June of next year. However, all installs to homes may not be completed at this time, but we do expect that part of the project to be complete by the end of 2023. I would like to take a moment to thank all of you for your patience as this process unfolds. It’s never easy waiting for something to arrive in your area. I know that some of our members had already been waiting for years when we made the announcement that Buzz Broadband was coming. Today, that dream is already a reality for more than 800 of our members, and it is our goal to add several hundred more each month for the near future. If you’re eagerly awaiting the arrival of fiber internet in your area, I encourage you to visit buzzbroadband.com to make sure you are pre-registered. Doing so will ensure you are notified as soon as service is available in your area. You can also check out the interactive map on our website that shows the status of construction and when members can expect service in their area. High-speed internet service certainly wasn’t something our founding members could have imagined when they established this cooperative. What they did know was that they were willing to work hard to bring a crucial new technology to their community. In that sense, Buzz Broadband is a natural extension of that original mission. And it’s one we can’t wait to make a reality for everyone. n
www.alabamaliving.coop
6/8/22 12:37 PM
