Power of Community - Pedernales Electric Cooperative

Our members help shape their Cooperative. We encourage members to communicate with and participate in their Co-op — whether it’s during a Board meeting, educational presentation or community event. We welcome member feedback and ideas, and what our members say is important.

One way a member can get involved in their Co-op is to hold a seat on our Board of Directors. Each director is a PEC member nominated by member petition and democratically elected by Co-op members.

Co-op bylaws document our petition process. As part of that process, nominees have to meet various qualifications and get verifiable signatures from at least 100 members who live within the nominee’s Board district or have designated a voting residence within that district....

Q: Why did the Cooperative introduce the PEC Member Portal website? What does it do that the old website didn’t do?

A: The online PEC Member Portal was launched in September when we replaced our more than 20-year-old member information and billing system. The new system was an important upgrade to our information management capabilities. Many of these improvements are “behind the scenes” and replace manual or time-consuming billing and service tasks, allowing us to provide better, more efficient service as the Cooperative continues to grow.

We focused on replacing the tools and features available on the old site when we introduced the PEC Member Portal. It looks different, but members are still able to check their statements, view their ...

PEC is distributing more than $11.9 million in capital credits in December 2012 to its current and former members. Capital credits are an integral part of the unique relationship between a not-for-profit co-op and its members — a relationship in which members share in a co-op’s financial performance.

So what are capital credits, and why do PEC members receive them? Basically, when revenues exceed expenses, the Co-op earns margins rather than profits. These margins are allocated to members in the form of capital credits. Capital credits are based upon the dollar amount of electricity that a member purchases, so the amounts allocated vary from member to member.

Capital credits reflect members’ ownership in PEC. The Cooperative uses member capital to ...

The electricity that PEC delivers flows throughout its 8,100 square-mile service area. It’s there when we stop to pump gas or pick up barbecue. It powers our hospitals’ lifesaving equipment, our libraries’ computers and it lights up our Friday night football games.

But your Co-op’s contribution to the community goes beyond reliable electricity.

We haven’t forgotten that the Cooperative was built nearly 75 years ago by Hill Country residents, and we’re dedicated to giving back. PEC’s Light the Way program supports local nonprofit organizations such as fire departments and senior citizen centers through annual donations, and the Co-op awards $1,000 grants to organizations not receiving other PEC funds. We also take pride in supporting tomorrow’s leaders through our Scholarship ...

As your Cooperative, PEC’s purpose is different. We’re not here to make a profit. Economic Participation is one of the seven cooperative principles, and our members are owners who fund their business by paying their electric bills.

When revenues exceed expenses, we reassign the resulting “margins” back to members by recording capital credits for accounts in proportion to the amount of electricity billed that year. The actual funds are not immediately available because they are reinvested to support operating activities and reduce borrowing, but allocations are later retired (paid out to members) according to our Capital Credits Policy.

The 2011 allocations for members’ accounts have been calculated and recorded. If your account was billed last year, you will ...

We were glad to get a chance to meet so many of our members at PEC’s Annual Meeting Saturday at the Hays CISD Performing Arts Center in Kyle. The meeting was an exercise in the power of community, bringing together more than 750 Hill Country residents from across PEC’s 8,100 square-mile service area.

Attendees participated in the democratic election process and learned more about Cooperative business and new ways to save energy and money. The facility in Kyle accommodated everyone comfortably, with plenty of room for activities, demonstrations and free health screenings offered by the Central Texas Medical Center of San Marcos. The colorful Touchstone Energy Cooperatives hot air balloon out front made our event easy to spot.

Democratic Member ...

When driving past pole after pole after pole of an electric line parallel to the road, it’s easy to forget just how important each individual piece of equipment is to the overall distribution system. From the largest substation to the smallest bolt, every part is different, but each is crucial to delivering your power, with an influence that reaches far beyond the next span of line.

Like the parts that make up the distribution system, all cooperative members are equally important. The first co-op principle is Voluntary & Open Membership, which ensures that anyone willing to accept the responsibilities of membership can choose to receive electric service within our service area, regardless of who they are. It also means that ...

At PEC, you have a voice. And when you use that voice, we listen. Our members have a say in how their Cooperative is run, electing fellow members to our Board of Directors who in turn set the Co-op’s agenda. Our annual election is currently underway, but this isn’t the only time you can weigh in — Democratic Member Control is a central cooperative principle all year long.

PEC is committed to openness and transparency, and we invite you to attend our open meetings and events to watch Co-op business in action. Board and committee meetings are held monthly, and several member forums are usually held each year. Past topics have included conservation, renewable energy, rates and community giving.

This ...

Individual wires are stronger when twisted together into strands, and those strands are further strengthened when combined to make an electric line. In the same way, communities benefit when members form a cooperative, and when those cooperatives work together, new opportunities become possible.

PEC belongs to several industry organizations, and we participate in earnest, sharing our best practices with other co-ops and learning from their successes. This cooperation enables co-ops to provide the best possible reliability and services to our members and is rarely found in the private sector, where such information is often considered a trade secret.

We also work with other co-ops in less formal (but often more important) ways. When disaster strikes, PEC dispatches linemen to help ...

Q: I heard that PEC will stop hanging community banners soon. Is that true?

A: PEC is proud to be an active member of the Hill Country community, partnering with local organizations to give back to our members in a variety of ways. For many years, we have assisted cities and non-profit organizations throughout our service area by hanging event banners; however, there are growing safety concerns associated with that task.

Our service territory is becoming more populated, and traffic has greatly increased on many of the main roads. The process of hanging banners over busy roadways can put drivers, pedestrians and PEC employees at risk. Installed banners can fall or pull down electric poles or equipment, causing a hazardous ...