March 29, 2024

SMECO Board of Directors Elected

Posted for SMECO

Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative (SMECO) held its 76th Annual Meeting this month, giving  customer-members the opportunity to vote for SMECO members to serve on the Co-op’s Board of Directors. SMECO held the Annual Meeting at the Blue Crabs Regency Furniture Stadium in Waldorf, where it has been held since 2009.

The Cooperative had 1,338 members register to vote, with 477 of them voting by absentee mail-in ballot. The following SMECO members were elected to serve on SMECO’s Board for three years: Nancy W. Zinn of Calvert County; Victor B. Allen of Charles County; Daniel W. Dyer of Prince George’s County; and J. Douglas Frederick and Joseph V. Stone, Jr. of St. Mary’s County.

Also on the ballot were several bylaw amendments for customer-members to vote on.

Because SMECO serves a neighborhood in northern Calvert County that will include a couple of home sites in Anne Arundel County, one of the bylaws has a provision for Anne Arundel customers to be included among SMECO’s members who may run for the Board of Directors as representatives of Calvert and Anne Arundel counties. Another amendment assures that customers voting absentee count toward the registered number of customers for matters that require a quorum. Other changes to the bylaws establish requirements for matters related to a consolidation or merger. Mark MacDougall, SMECO’s Vice President of External Affairs and General Counsel, explained that the Cooperative has no intention or plans to consolidate or merge with any entity, nor has SMECO been approached by any entity to do so. He said that SMECO’s bylaws were amended to outline procedures that would be followed in the event a consolidation or merger must be considered. The new bylaws state that SMECO may only consolidate with another cooperative and that two-thirds of the total membership must approve any consolidation or merger.

Each customer-member who registered received an insulated tote bag, a magnet, and a six-foot measuring tape. Free ice cream and sodas were also available. Richard Winkler, Chairman of the SMECO Board of Directors, welcomed SMECO’s customer-members to the ball park and called the meeting to order. J. Ernest Bell II of Leonardtown served as the meeting chairman, a duty he has performed every year since 1999.

SMECO’s president and CEO, Austin J. Slater, Jr., reviewed the Co-op’s activities of the past year in his remarks. Slater discussed SMECO’s solar farm, which has been operational since November 2012, and the nationwide increase in solar home energy production. SMECO’s Southern Maryland Reliability Project, which began construction in 2012, is scheduled to be online by the end of this year. The 230,000-volt transmission line completes a loop throughout the service area, and the project is estimated to be $2 million under budget. Slater also discussed some fundamental changes that he sees in the future of the electric industry: the global policy emphasis to reduce greenhouse gas, the growth in natural gas production, the advancement of distributed generation, such as solar and wind energy produced at homes and schools, and the evolving smart grid.

In the concourse of the stadium, SMECO hosted informational displays about its customer programs and services with an emphasis on how customer service has been enhanced by technological improvements. The Co-op now offers a free mobile-friendly web app, SMECO 24/7, for reporting outages and paying bills. A text message service is also available. Customers text REG, for registration, to 76326, for SMECO, on their phone to be able to report outages and receive status updates. More information is available on SMECO’s website.

Co-op personnel were on hand to provide information about energy-saving programs such as CoolSentry and the Quick Home Energy Check-up. Customers could ask questions of employees who work in the Co-op’s rates department and meter operations. Representatives from the National Renewables Cooperative Organization, which assisted SMECO with its two solar projects, hosted a display that included a solar panel. Customer-members were also encouraged to enroll in the Action Committee for Rural Electrification as well as the Members Helping Members program to donate a monthly amount to help less fortunate residents keep their power on.

Joe Lehan, voice of the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs, served as the emcee for the entertainment prior to the meeting during which the Southern Mix Chorus performed a 45-minute set and customers won prizes for bingo games. Pastor Marianne Christofferson of Brookfield-Immanuel United Methodist Church in Brandywine gave the invocation, the Leonard Hall Junior Naval Academy presented the colors, and the Southern Mix Chorus performed the national anthem at the beginning of the meeting.

Members who registered to vote were eligible to win one of 50 electric bill credits of $35 each. In addition, winners of 14 cash prizes of $75 each and a well-traveled SMECO vehicle were randomly selected from the registered members in attendance. Norman Bowie of Nanjemoy won the SMECO vehicle, a 2002 Chevy Cavalier, with AM/FM radio, air conditioning, rear window defroster, and 92,000 miles.

Below are the results of the director elections:

Calvert County (one seat up for election)
Nancy W. Zinn                    999
 
Charles County (one seat up for election)
Victor B. Allen                    655
Gregory V. Billups               442
 
Prince George’s County (one seat up for election)
Daniel W. Dyer                    971
 
St. Mary’s County (two seats up for election)
Carl S. Dyson                      327
Douglas Frederick                697
Patricia M. Robrecht            207
Joseph V. Stone, Jr.            828
George “Mike” Thompson     237

SMECO is a customer-owned electric cooperative, proud to be a J.D. Power 2014 Customer Champion. We are one of an elite group of 50 U.S. companies to be named to this list.

SMECO provides electricity to over 156,000 services in Charles County, St. Mary’s County, southern Prince George’s County, and all but the northeast portion of Calvert County. Co-ops are distinctly different from investor-owned utilities because co-ops are owned by their customers, and customer-members elect the men and women who serve on the Board of Directors.

Co-ops also issue capital credits to their customer-members. What are capital credits? They are the member’s share of the co-op’s margins, based on how much electricity the member purchased and the rate at which the account was billed. SMECO’s margins—revenue less expenses—are used as working capital for new construction and system improvements. When SMECO’s Board of Directors determines that a percentage of the capital credits can be distributed to members through a general refund, capital credits will be issued by check or credited to members’ electric bills.

Leave A Comment