ANNUAL MEETING

service as the network is built. Many of the remaining unserved members will get fiber service by the fall and winter of this year.

“We are thrilled to build on this innovative partnership and deliver access to reliable connectivity to all of our members,” said Evans. Altafiber is updating a website for members to check the status of their location. Please check our website, butlerrural.coop, for more information and to visit altafiber’s website for members once it is available.

Setting a new peak

Evans reported that this past Christmas brought a blast of cold winter weather like we haven’t seen in several years. The event stretched the electric system to its limits. In fact, nine states, including systems in Kentucky, had to implement emergency temporary load interruptions for a period of time. Locally, we set a new all-time peak of 65 megawatts, exceeding the load we experienced during the polar vortex in 2014.

Our local system performed very well. Momentary outages on Duke Energy’s system led us to transfer load from our Shandon Substation to other substations. We operated many hours during the Christmas event with one less substation than normal. Many systems could not do that during a peak. That’s a testament to the cooperative’s system planning and commitment to reliability.

Committed to safety

Every three years, Butler Rural Electric Cooperative completes a Rural Electric Safety Achievement Program, or RESAP, audit. This comprehensive system-wide inspection program improves safety by evaluating all areas of our safety program, including work site inspections, facility inspections, and one-on-one employee interviews. In 2022, we successfully completed the RESAP audit and received our best score ever. Our emphasis on safety and security remains high and at the forefront of everything we do.

Special awards

We celebrated two board members receiving service awards in 2023 during the annual meeting. Mike Tilton is celebrating 20 years as a Butler Rural Electric Cooperative board member and Robert Spaeth is celebrating 15 years as a Butler Rural Electric Cooperative board member. We thank these board members for their commitment and leadership on our board.

Election results

Lee Geiger, Butler Rural Electric Cooperative’s attorney, announced the board of trustees election results. All cooperative elections are conducted by an independent third-party company. This year’s election was completed and certified by Survey and Ballot Systems. Using a third party maintains the integrity of our elections.