April 2015 | Volume 77 | Issue 4
Co-op Members’ Annual Meeting May 7
Doors open at 4:30 p.m., Thursday, May 7
Kearney office, 1000 W. Hwy. 92 — just west of I-35 on Hwy. 92
Register for the annual meeting and prizes until 7 p.m.
(Please note: must be present to win all prizes – winning names drawn at end of business meeting)
Capital credit checks (for amounts of more than $15) at registration
First 1000 members to register will receive a gift
Community and co-op displays and energy efficiency info 4:30 – 7 p.m.
Learn about your co-op’s community solar project
Light meal served 4:30 – 7:00 p.m.
Business Meeting 7 p.m.
Vote for your Board of Directors
Update on your co-op’s activities – State of the Co-op
Win a year of electric service (1 winner, maximum $1500)
Win 6 months of electric service (2 winners, maximum of $750 each)
Kid stuff – Kids’ Carnival 4:30 – 8 p.m.
Kids’ prizes – XBox 360, Kindle Fire HD6, Beats Pill 2.0,
Beats Solo 2 HD headphones, Galaxy Tab 4 (2 winners)
A boy’s and a girl’s Power Wheels Dune Racers
Please note: must be present and in business meeting to win
all prizes. These prizes awarded at end of business meeting.
77th Annual Meeting May 1
Mike Torres
From the CEO
I am pleased to let you know that your Board approved returning $1.3 million in capital credit checks this year at the annual meeting. Because your co-op is a nonprofit, capital credit checks, for the new members, is the margin left over after good business practices.
Members who come to the annual meeting may pick up their capital credit check as part of the festivities including a picnic supper, kids carnival, prizes, information on community groups and your co-op’s pilot community solar array, the brief business meeting, the Board of Director election and grand prizes—a year of electric service, up to $1500, or six months of electric service, up to $750, for two members. Plus kids prizes.
It’s been an exciting year for your cooperative, and we are very pleased to be in a position to continue to return money (capital credits) to coop members. It’s one of the additional benefits of being a member of a rural electric cooperative where we take pride in providing low-cost energy.
And there’s more good news.
We have some other numbers to share that goes to the heart of what your rural electric cooperative does for its members: always working to meet and exceed your expectations.
Let’s talk energy efficiency, because that helps members save on energy costs.
Since 2010, your co-op has returned more than $1 million in rebates to more than 400 co-op members who installed ground source and air source heat pumps.
Also since 2010, your co-op’s certified energy auditor helped more than 400 members find ways to save energy in their homes, again helping keep energy costs low. Your co-op also has rebates to help offset energy efficiency home improvements.
By working together, your coop with its goal of meeting member expectations and providing low-cost energy, and co-op members saving energy, today we find that the Missouri cooperative system will not need additional capacity, in other words, a new power plant, in the immediate future.
And in the meantime, the first Missouri community solar array owned by rural electric co-op members is humming along on the west side of the Platte-Clay headquarters building, yet another way your co-op is meeting member expectations.
I do hope you will be able to join us May 7 for the annual meeting. It’s a nice mix of business, education and fun and a great opportunity for you to learn more about how your co-op benefits members. Doors open at 4:30, business meeting at 7.
As always, if you have questions or concerns, please let me know.
Platte-Clay’s Board of Director Nominating Committee. L-R: Sandy Sondag, Stephen Foster, Judy Cox, Jeff Couchman, Jane Lacy, Grundy Newton, John Boddicker and Randy Reuter.
Rural Missouri serves as official annual meeting notice
The co-op By-laws require members receive the official notification of the Annual Meeting between 10 and 25 days before the meeting.
Because of the sequential Northland Connection mailing in the bills, the co-op uses the Rural Missouri, which can be mailed to all members at one time within that timeframe.
Although not all members wish to receive the Rural Missouri, everyone will in April as a co-op member and the By-law requirement.
Board candidates’ biographies posted
Members running for the Board of Directors have been posted at both offices, 15055 Bethel Rd., Platte City and 1000 W. Hwy. 92, Kearney.
As of the press deadline, only the incumbent Board members are running. You can find their biographical sketches in the newsletter and posted at the co-op offices.
Note to potential candidates: It’s possible to submit a petition to be on the ballot (by April 17) or to be nominated from the floor during the business meeting.
Must be present to win all prizes
It is a heart breaker when someone comes in from outside the building and friends tell them their name was called to win a prize and they missed being in the business meeting.
Members and their children who entered a drawing must be present to win any prize.
The business meeting starts at 7 p.m. and usually runs about an hour. Members learn about the co-op’s year, elect Board members and at the end of the meeting, prize drawings.
This year the grand prize is a year of electric service, or a maximum value of $1500. There are two second prizes — six months’ of electric service, or a maximum of $750 each.
Plus there are kids electronics and a boy’s and a girl’s Power Wheels Dune Racers for the little ones.
Emergency reschedule date May 14
April showers bring May flowers. And sometimes spring weather, with all of the gentleness of flowers bobbing in our gardens.
Or lashing rain, lightning bolts that look like the special effects from a scary movie and thunderclaps that send us all scurrying for cover.
In the event we’re experiencing dangerous spring weather that would affect the Kearney office, the annual meeting will be rescheduled to May 14; doors will open at 5:30 p.m. to allow members time to park and get settled and the business meeting will start at 7 p.m.
To confirm cancellation, please see the co-op’s web site, www. pcec.coop, check the co-op Facebook page and look for tweets (Twitter) if you’re following PCEC. In addition, area media will be notified.
Catch a ride with Platte-Clay
Circulating trams will pick up and return members to their vehicle before and after the business meeting.
Handicapped parking
There is extremely limited handicapped parking next to the building.
Because the circulating trams will pick up and return members to their vehicles in the general parking areas, it is not necessary to park next to the building. Just wave down the Platte-Clay tram for a ride to and from the annual meeting activities.
Please update your account names and telephone number(s)
This is a great time to update all names and telephone numbers for your Platte-Clay account.
Just call 628-3121 anytime, 24 x 7 x 365 and we can add or change your telephone number.
Having the current telephone number is important because Platte- Clay calls to alert members about scheduled outages in the affected area to make it easier for members to make plans.
Plus, when calling in, the automated telephone system, called Interactive Voice Response, (IVR) recognizes the telephone number(s) associated with the account, saving time and allowing members to report outages or problems automatically without waiting in a queue.
The member who owns the account may add the names of other parties to the account — important because the co-op can not give out any information, including a capital credit check, to anyone whose name is not on it.
2015 Board of Director Candidates
Dennis Fulk
Weston, Mo.
West District
Dennis has been a member of Platte-Clay since 1974. He has served on the Board since 1993, and currently is president of the Board of Directors.
He is a self-employed farmer.
The talents Dennis brings to the Board are based on owning and managing a farm for more than 40 years and his leadership positions on various local and state Boards.
The main issue he sees facing Platte-Clay is wholesale power rates.
The most important thing to know about Platte-Clay, Dennis feels, is that it is a cooperative owned by the members it serves.
Dennis believes he is the best candidate for the West District because of his experience in the electric cooperative system at the local, state and national levels.
Theresa Wren
Turney, Mo.
North District
Theresa Wren is a Senior Production Ag Credit Officer. She holds a Missouri CPA certificate and a B. S. in Agriculture Economics from the University of Missouri at Columbia and a B.S. in Business Administration in Accounting from Missouri Western State University. She has been a member of Platte-Clay since 1998. She joined the Board January, 2014, to complete Ann Schwarz’s term when Ann retired in 2013.
The skills she brings to the board include business acumen, leadership and team building capabilities along with her many years of experience working for cooperative systems.
The issues Theresa feels facing Platte-Clay include increasing government regulations and maintaining low energy costs for members.
The most important things to know about PCEC include that the co-op provides a quality product, top-of-the-line customer service and that the co-op encourages membership participation, which is paramount.
She feels that the co-op has an excellent, caring staff that loves the work they do and that Platte-Clay is a co-op that listens to the members, contributes to the communities it serves and continues to lead the industry in innovation.
Theresa feels she is the best candidate because of her commitment and experience.
Kendall Davis
Excelsior Springs, Mo.
South District
Kendall Davis is the owner-operator of a welding company, as well as a Professor of Welding Technology and Instruction for the Metropolitan Community College of Kansas City.
Kendall, who has been a member of Platte-Clay since 1983, has served on the Board since 1991.
The skills he brings to the Board include his 20 plus years of director experience, 25 years as a small business owner and his knowledge of electric industry issues and facts.
The issues he feels face the co-op include controlling costs at all times, making sure we are providing affordable and reliable electric service and staying in alignment with industry environmental requirements.
The most important things to know about PCEC include our number one and most outstanding asset in our co-op is our employees and staff, and the many services PCEC can provide for members—just call and ask.
Kendall feels he is the best candidate for the South District because of his education, industry exposure, experience and time on the Board. As a result, members can be confident in his decisions, along with the rest of the Board members, that they will make the best decision to benefit the co-op and its members.
It’s not easy being green, Kermit the Frog famously said.
But he didn’t know about community solar projects.
And he didn’t know your rural electric cooperative.
So we might go with one of the late President Ronald Reagan’s quotes, “There you go again.”
Because that’s exactly what Platte-Clay is doing, being in tune with its members and building Missouri’s first rural electric cooperative community solar array.
Members said, in three surveys, that they wanted renewable energy and are interested in solar energy.
In response to majority member interest, your co-op has built a pilot community solar project.
There are 416 solar panels, each of which will generate an estimated 525 kWh of energy a year, and in total, provide enough renewable energy for 14 Platte- Clay members’ homes.
A community solar array, sometimes called a solar garden, provides any number of the benefits of renewable solar energy.
Better yet: none of the upfront costs, none of the siting requirements, no panels on the roof or in the yard, no maintenance.
In short, no worries.
There are two ways for co-op members to participate:
- Sign up for the output of a solar panel, up to five per member. In rough numbers, the cost is estimated to be less than $10 a month per panel for renewable energy.
- Pre-purchase the output of up to five solar panels for around $850 per panel.
Co-op members who select the pre-purchase option will not have a solar energy charge and will lock in energy costs at today’s rates. There is an Operations and Maintenance and General Distribution charge, costs that are included in all members’ rates, although not itemized. While the amount will vary based on the solar kWh generated each month, it will probably be less than $10 a month.
Members who are interested in learning more about the project can visit with co-op representatives as well as the manufacturer at the annual meeting May 7.
There will be a Solartech booth in the display area between 4:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. with co-op representatives available to answer questions and take names of members who are interested in community solar.
For an outage, customer or emergency service, call Platte-Clay at 816-628-3121 24/7/365. Visit pcec.coop for info and account service.
The Northland Connection is published monthly by Platte-Clay Electric Cooperative, Inc., 1000 W. 92 Highway, Kearney, MO 64060. Postmaster: Please send address changes to: Northland Connection, PO Box 100, Kearney, MO 64060 or mail@pcec.coop.
Platte-Clay is an equal opportunity employer.