Santee Electric Cooperative Inc.

SEVENTY-FIVE YEARS
POWERING TRADITION
Santee Electric
Annual Report 2013
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About Us
Seventy-five years ago, this was a different world. But, when you look back, it’s really
a lovely story.
There is a saying that, “Good things come
to those who wait,” but around here in the
1930s, that didn’t hold true. Instead, good
things came to those who went out and
worked for them.
In the early 1930s, rural families, mostly farmers in Florence, Clarendon,
Williamsburg and Georgetown counties, were heating their homes and cooking with
wood, having dinner and maybe even reading the Bible at night by candlelight.
Even as low interest loans became
available through the Rural Electrification
Administration, privately owned utility
companies realized there was no money to be
made by extending miles and miles of power
lines to only serve a handful of customers in
rural Florence, Clarendon, Williamsburg and
Georgetown counties.
But the hard times of manual labor, ice-cold baths and no news from the outside
world for weeks at a time was no easy life for our grandparents and greatgrandparents. They knew that standing still would always keep them behind in the
grand scheme of things, so they came together in 1939 and formed Santee Electric
Cooperative so they could begin to use many of the modern conveniences people
living in town were already enjoying.
Think about the impact electricity made in rural areas. Women lived longer not having to work dusk to dawn at
backbreaking chores. Farm production jumped. Things like running water, lights and stored food were possible – and
with those leaps forward came new challenges and opportunities.
So, at 5 p.m., Dec. 14, 1939, a group of
farmers met to charter Santee Electric
Cooperative with the goal of bringing
electricity to themselves. These were
neighbors and friends who dreamt of the
possibility of electric lights, stoves, freezers
and washing machines.
The membership fee was only $5 when the first 200 members saw the lights come on for the first time through the first
110 miles of line. More and more people in rural areas signed up to get electricity and the co-op grew and grew into
what it is today.
Today, we have 34,150 members and, with a 2,005-square-mile territory, serve the largest geographical footprint of any
co-op in the state.
Years of hard work followed. They would
scour the countryside to recruit members
that were willing to sign up to receive electric
service for $5 … during the dredges of The
Great Depression.
None of what we enjoy today would have been possible without the hard work of many men and women along the way.
Cooperatives aren’t like other businesses. We’re not focused on making a profit. Cooperatives offer the perfect tool for
tackling tasks too big for one person to handle alone, tasks based on a common purpose. Standing together, we are still
building our communities, bringing dreams to reality and giving youth a better future.
The hard work paid off July 20, 1940, when
the lights officially came on through 110
miles of line to serve about 200 members.
An additional 285 miles of line was then
acquired from the old South Carolina State
Authority, serving 900 people.
And 75 years later, Santee Electric
Cooperative continues to grow, with a service
area that extends from Highway 301 to
the Intracoastal Waterway, and from the
Pee Dee River to the Santee River. There
are about 34,150 members scattered over
5,500 miles of line in our four-county service
area. Cooperative headquarters is located in
Kingstree, with branch offices in Manning,
Lake City, Hemingway and Georgetown.
Employees with the same work ethic
and dedication to their fellow cooperative
members have been diligent in their efforts
to provide as much technology and the best
electric service at the lowest possible price.
We stand beside our neighbors – to enhance
the quality of life in our service area by
supporting economic, civic and educational
opportunities. Today, and for future
generations in another 75 years.
Floyd L. Keels
President and Chief Executive Officer
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1939
1968
1952
SEC’s new office is constructed
on the corner of Third Avenue
and Longstreet Street
in Kingstree.
1940
Power lines are energized
July 20, and the lights
officially come on through
110 miles of line to serve about 200 members.
An additional 285 miles of line is then acquired
from the old South Carolina State Authority serving
900 people. Co-op operates with seven employees
and two substations. The first annual meeting of the
membership is held Dec. 2.
Lake City branch office
opens. A collection station is
set up in Springs Farm
Supply Store in Hemingway.
Original Georgetown branch
office opened.
SEC board votes to
promote the start
of a rural telephone
cooperative and pay
Farmer’s Telephone
Cooperative’s charter fee.
In the following
Santee Electric Cooperative
(SEC) is chartered Dec. 14.
Membership fee is $5.
1974
1972
1950
Total underground system
in Pine Crest Subdivision
Hemingway is installed and
an additional 66 miles of
line for a total of 19,500
members and 3,537 total
miles of line.
years, several loans
are made to ensure
rural members receive
much-needed telephone
communications.
1970
A National Cash Register
Century 100 Computer is
installed, setting the stage
for more efficient billing
for members and more
accurate and complete
recordkeeping and
system analysis.
1977
1973
The service area covers 4,064 miles
of line. The average growth rate is
100 new members per month and
the average monthly residential
bill is $38.08. Members continue
to receive electricity in spite of the
national coal strike.
Historic ice and snowstorms
in January and February
cost the co-op $150,000 and
$100,000, respectively, each
month.
1998
1978
At 27,000 members and 20
substations strong, SEC stands
as the largest electric co-op in
South Carolina and the
Hemingway branch office opens.
Call center monitoring software
is installed and computer
systems in all offices are
upgraded to Microsoft Windows;
all PCs are networked.
1992
1989
Portable
dispatch system
that employees
take home at
night is no longer
needed, as 24-hour
dispatch is
introduced.
Hurricane Hugo
causes $15 million in
damage in the
service area.
2013
2004
SEC moves into the
new Corporate Facility
on Sumter Highway.
SEC is the first co-op in the
state to provide a mobile
website. The mapping and
outage management systems
are converted and greatly
enhanced. SEC currently has
43,998 active accounts, 129
employees and 5,500
miles of line.
2001
1990
1980
Manager of safety and training
purchases the first desktop PC
used by the co-op.
1997
SEC converts from dial-up to
high-speed Internet connection.
Manning branch office opens.
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The first automated outage
system is rolled out, allowing
members to more quickly and
easily report outages.
2012
SEC offers Advance Pay to
the general membership.
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Summary of Operations
ANNUAL REPORT
INFORMATION
Calendar Year 2013
Number of meters
connected
KWH sales
Average cost per
KWH members
(this includes
industrial members
2013
2012
43,977
44,033
1,289,802,527
1,266,408,636
$0.102
$0.101
293,870
Average residential
KWH per month
1,183
1,165
Average residential
bill per month
$157.20
$162.77
Revenue per mile
of line (per year)
$23,826
$23,289
129
130
Number of employees
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2012
How your dollars were spent in 2013.
Operations, Maintenance
and General Expense
Depreciation
17.54%
4.9
3%
Interest
273,872
Peak KW demand
by members
2013
3.82%
Operating Margin
2.86%
Taxes
4
0.6
%
(excluding property
tax in o&m)
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70.21%
Every dollar
was spent on
Wholesale Power
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The Cooperative Principles
1st Principle: Voluntary and open membership
5th Principle: Education, training and information
Cooperatives are voluntary organizations, open to all persons able to use their services
and willing to accept the responsibilities of membership, without gender, social, racial,
political or religious discrimination.
Cooperatives provide education and training for their members,
elected representatives, managers and employees so they can
contribute effectively to the development of their cooperatives.
They inform the general public – particularly young people and
opinion leaders – about the nature and benefits of cooperation.
2nd Principle: Democratic member control
Cooperatives are democratic organizations controlled by their members, who actively
participate in setting their polices and making decisions. Men and women serving as
elected representatives are accountable to the membership. In primary cooperatives,
members have equal voting rights – one member, one vote – and
cooperatives at other levels are organized in a democratic manner.
6th Principle: Cooperation among cooperatives
3rd Principle: Members’ economic participation
7th Principle: Concern for community
Members contribute equally to, and democratically control, the capital of their
cooperative. At least part of that capital is usually the common property of the
cooperative. They usually receive limited compensation, if any, on capital subscribed
as a condition of membership. Members allocate surpluses for any or all of the
following purposes: developing the cooperative, possibly by setting up reserves, part
of which at least would be indivisible; benefiting members in proportion to their
transactions with the cooperative; and supporting other activities approved by the
membership.
While focusing on member needs, cooperatives work for the
sustainable development of their communities through policies
accepted by their members.
Cooperatives serve their members most effectively and
strengthen the cooperative movement by working together
through local, national, regional and international structures.
The International Cooperative Alliance
Manchester, England
September 1995
4th Principle: Autonomy and independence
Cooperatives are autonomous, self-help organizations controlled by their members.
If they enter into agreements with other organizations, including governments, or
raise capital from external sources, they do so on terms that ensure democratic
control by their members and maintain their cooperative autonomy.
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Going the Distance
Good technology, great people,
enable SEC to serve a huge area
SEC serves
Lynches River
County Park,
where Splash
Island keeps kids
cool all summer,
thanks in part
to linemen like
Anthony McKnight
(right).
South Carolina’s 20 independent
electric cooperatives operate the largest
distribution system in the state, serving
70 percent of the state’s land area with
more than 72,000 miles of power line.
Santee Electric Cooperative serves
the largest land area of any S.C. coop – 2,005 square miles, about a
third more than the next largest co-op
area. SEC maintains more than 5,500
miles of line – enough to stretch from
Kingstree to Athens, Greece. Yet it’s
all in service to local co-op memberowners. From Georgetown to Coward,
from Yauhannah to Summerton, co-op
members rely on SEC.
Ethel Singleton,
customer service
supervisor at SEC’s
Manning
district office.
Frank Sims lives on
Cat Island just below
Georgetown. Santee
Electric Cooperative
serves the island
via an underwater
cable that crosses
the Intracoastal
Waterway.
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Technology makes it possible
Innovation has long been a hallmark
of electric co-ops, which from the start
found ways to serve where other power
companies could not. Today, SEC uses
the latest, proven technologies to serve
its members, says vice president of
engineering and operations Rob Higbe.
“Customers are mainly focused on
reliability and cost. So anything we
can do to lower our costs we do. Using
technology allows us to do a better job,”
Higbe says.
Higbe, who started his career at SEC
Members make it worthwhile
in 1990 while pursuing an electrical
engineering degree from Clemson
University, has seen the co-op’s
technology evolve from a few computers
in his early years to a variety of
integrated systems today. SEC now
uses detailed distribution system maps,
advanced substation monitoring and
control technology, smart meters,
wide-area network and mobile
communications, and vehicle tracking
to provide its far-flung membership
with the most reliable, affordable
service possible.
SEC employees make it happen
Technology connects four branch offices in Georgetown, Hemingway, Lake
City and Manning with the co-op’s Kingstree headquarters. So, 34,150
members – from Summerton to Yauhannah, from Georgetown to Coward
– still enjoy the personal touch, what Touchstone Energy Cooperatives like
Santee Electric call “the power of human connections.”
SERVICE TERRITORY MAP
SERVICE_AREA
<all other values>
Higbe also oversees SEC’s information
technology efforts. All departments,
he notes, collaborate to ensure the
various systems function together. “We
figure out how technology can work for
employees and help them do their job,”
he says.
That is, serving members.
An automated staking system allows
staking technicians to design services
that soon become work orders for co-op
crews to build, getting members’ lights
on ASAP. “We’re able to keep the guys
updated in pretty much real time with
up-to-date maps,” Higbe notes.
Customer service reps can quickly
access account records to assist
members who call. Automated
meters can give SEC energy experts
information on voltage issues before
members learn they have a problem.
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STRING1
Duke Energy Territory
SEC member James Jackson lives in
the Yauhannah community in upper
Georgetown County. A Social Security
Administration retiree, Jackson helped
organize the Pee Dee Community Center,
where children of rural families can come
after school to study and play.
Santee Electric Coop Territory
Unassigned Territory
SEC’s outage management system can handle more
calls than ever and get crews on the scene faster.
“We can do a better job of dispatching the crews,
which saves you time, which gets the power back
on quicker,” Higbe says. The system can even detect
failing devices and predict outages.
Engineers can interrogate panels inside substations
remotely, rather than spending hours on the
road gathering data and searching for problems.
Engineering models let them track load growth
for better long-range planning of facility upgrades.
“With a big, spread-out system like ours, having that
detailed model enables us to do a much better job of
planning. It saves us a lot of money, allowing us to
allocate our funds properly.”
The advanced systems also enable SEC to provide
quality service to large industries, such as Nan Ya
Plastics Corp., that employ many co-op members,
Higbe adds.
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Fishing tackle is literally “low overhead”
for Nick Lucas, owner of the store at
Randolph’s Landing on Lake Marion near
Manning. Santee Electric Cooperative
distributes power to many lakeside homes
and businesses like Lucas’.
In the theme song to the old TV show
“Green Acres,” the Oliver Douglas character
sings, “Farm livin’ is the life for me!” SEC
member Benny Vereen isn’t a farmer, but the
Georgetown steel mill retiree and his wife,
Cheryl, made a comfortable home - and a
place to park his antique tractor collection on co-op lines in the Jerusalem community
near the Santee River.
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