Board of Trustees Percy Moreu, President District2Trustee@okcoop.org
District 2
Rusty Grissom, Vice President
3
Ronnie Tharp, Sec. Treasurer
9
Bob Usry, Asst. Sec. Treas.
8
Mike Argo
1
Ronnie Grover
4
Shirley Idleman
5
John Jensen
6
Danny Watters
7
District3Trustee@okcoop.org District9Trustee@okcoop.org District8Trustee@okcoop.org District1Trustee@okcoop.org District4Trustee@okcoop.org District5Trustee@okcoop.org District6Trustee@okcoop.org District7Trustee@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 VP of Information Technology.....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 $200 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
It's been one year since OEC Fiber opened for business, and what a year it has been. Thousands of active subscribers, hundreds of miles of fiber line in place, one incredibly hard-working team, and we're only beginning. At press time, we just crossed the 7,000 subscriber mark — what a fantastic feat. We are moving at speeds unheard of in the co-op broadband world, and it's all thanks to you. The trend of electric cooperatives stepping up to provide broadband to our rural consumers has picked up a lot of momentum in the last few years. Thanks to the national associations working to secure federal funding, electric co-ops across the nation are able to be the internet source rural communities so desperately need. I recently spoke with CNET for an article titled Electric Cooperatives Could be the Key to Solving the Rural Digital Divide along with a co-op manager in Virginia, and it's fascinating to see the same struggles that exist in other states and how their co-ops are taking on the responsibility of taking broadband where no one else will. OEC's service area is pretty urban and populated compared to the typical rural electric co-op, which is why we were surprised when we discovered those living a couple of miles from our most populous areas had little to no internet access. We realized our communities couldn't expect to do business, teach our kids, access telemedicine or take advantage of all kinds of other things without access to the internet, so we stepped in. Our earliest members did the exact same thing in the mid-1930s when they saw their urban counterparts living with electricity and no company willing to bring it to them. It's just what we do as a co-op. We see a need and find a way to fill it. Thank you for walking alongside us and supporting our efforts to bring high-speed internet where no one else will right here in central Oklahoma.
