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G. Thomas Upshaw | President & CEO
Palmetto Electric Cooperative members tell us they like how we’re
“looking out for them.” Maybe you don’t understand what that means. It’s fair
for you to ask, “How, exactly?”
Here are a few ways:
The cooperative business model insures we are looking out for our
members. We operate on a not-for-profit basis, so we don’t have to
be concerned with reaping ever-larger profits to pay ever-increasing
dividends to stockholders. We simply focus on serving our members.
Any money we make over operating costs, we can return to members in the
form of capital credits. Palmetto Electric Cooperative will return
approximately $1 million to its members this year.
Our goal is to provide affordable, reliable energy at the lowest
possible cost. In this respect, we look out for our members by
maintaining our long-standing, close working relationship with the
state-owned utility, Santee Cooper. Palmetto Electric and the 19 other
independent, consumer-owned co-ops around the state together represent Santee
Cooper’s largest customer. The co-ops and Santee Cooper collaborate to
meet South Carolina’s power needs for decades to come. While energy costs
are rising across the electric utility industry, you can trust that our
partnership with Santee Cooper helps hold down your power costs as much
as possible. As for service reliability, co-ops continue to have some of
the industry’s highest ratings for keeping the lights on. We diligently
maintain our systems to minimize outages.
Our co-op is taking all possible actions now and in the future to
moderate future cost increases. Every day, we look for ways to
improve efficiency, including using the latest proven technologies.
Did you know that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission considers
electric co-ops industry leaders in deploying automated meter reading
(AMR) technology? AMR doesn’t just reduce the cost of meter reading,
it gives us — and you — more and better information on power use and quality.
With AMR and other technologies, we can better maintain our distribution
system to reduce line losses. That reduces our power costs, which saves
our members money.
We’re here to help members manage their energy use. We
have scores of resources available to help you. Contact us if we can help.
We’ve also listened to our members who want us to develop renewable sources
of energy. We’ve done just that through our GreenPower program, another
collaboration with Santee Cooper. South Carolina’s electric co-ops will
continue to investigate renewable energy sources where it is cost
effective and where it makes sense for our membership.
Really, we see to it that everything we do makes sense for you,
our members. Rest assured, Palmetto Electric Cooperative is
looking out for you.
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