Board of Trustees Percy Moreu, President District2Trustee@okcoop.org
District 2
Mike Argo, Vice President
1
Rusty Grissom, Sec. Treasurer
3
Ronnie Tharp, Asst. Sec. Treas.
9
Ronnie Grover
4
Shirley Idleman
5
John Jensen
6
Danny Watters
7
Bob Usry
8
District1Trustee@okcoop.org District3Trustee@okcoop.org District9Trustee@okcoop.org District4Trustee@okcoop.org District5Trustee@okcoop.org District6Trustee@okcoop.org District7Trustee@okcoop.org District8Trustee@okcoop.org
Oklahoma Electric Cooperative 242 24th Ave NW | PO Box 1208 Norman, OK, 73070 321-2024, FAX 405-217-6900 http://www.okcoop.org
Senior Management Co-op Manager...............................Patrick Grace Chief Financial Officer.........Preston O’Brien, CPA VP of Engineering...........................Thad Peterson VP of Operations...............................Marty Hayes VP of Administration...........................Jonna Buck VP of HR and Legal Services............Tracy Mowdy VP of Metering................................John Spencer Mgr of Fiber & Broadband.........David Goodspeed Oklahoma Electric Co-op News is published monthly by Oklahoma Electric Cooperative, 242 24th Ave. NW, Norman, OK 73069, (USPS865-700). Subscription rates: $6.00 per year for non-members, 50¢ per year for members. Periodical postage paid at Norman, OK and other additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Please send form 3579 to: Oklahoma Electric Co-op News, PO Box 1208, Norman, OK 73070.
Co-op News Editor Brianna Wall
Hidden Account Numbers Worth $250 Each month, OEC will pay $50 to the two co-op members who locate their hidden account numbers inside the Co-op News that month. The hidden account numbers will be placed at random within the text of each issue and not on the mailing label. The amounts will simultaneously increase in $50 increments until one or both account numbers are located by their respective owners or until the maximum of $500 is reached. 1. One of the hidden account numbers must be your own. 2. You must advise OEC by phone, mail or in person at the co-op’s office by the 15th of the month. If you find your account number call the Member Relations department at 217-6708.
FROM the
TOP Patrick Grace, CEO
I don't want to jinx anything, but we have been pretty lucky when it comes to Oklahoma weather the past few years. Because of that, we've been able to really focus on system maintenance and ensuring we're providing the most safe, reliable electricity. You can read more on page 6 about how our outage numbers rival those of any other co-op in the state, but especially our neighboring investor-owned utilities. Other providers here in central Oklahoma experience the same challenges we do, and it appears we are doing more to ensure our members can rely on the power we provide. We are proactive and diligent in vegetation management efforts, which directly affects reliability. Some might believe that means our goal is to cut down every tree in our path, but it's not. We are fans of trees — so much that we are giving them away in April (more on that next month). We do encourage planting outside of our power lines' reach so you can enjoy the many benefits of trees while your electricity remains unaffected. Since 2017, we have emphasized system hardening. This means we have identified the worst performing parts of our system and made a concerted effort to do reactive and preventative maintenance. It's all part of a continuous improvement cycle so our members can be confident that when storms come, OEC's system will remain in tact. We've also improved the communication to our field equipment with the construction of OEC Fiber. While we are happy to begin offering internet services to our members, let's remember OEC Fiber was created first and foremost for communication to our electric system to increase operational efficiency, reduce outage times and allow us to work safer. Obviously we can't prevent every type of outage. There will always be the unfortunate squirrel on the wrong side of a blown fuse or a wayward vehicle that inadvertently leaves the road and knocks over a pole, but we have worked very hard and continue to work hard to improve the things we can control so our members can depend on our service.
