March 19, 2024

Still Time to Apply for SMECO Scholarship

Meeting

Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative is looking for high school seniors to receive scholarships of $1,500 each for the 2017-2018 school year. There is still time to apply before the Monday, April 3, deadline.

Eligible students live with parents or grandparents who are customer members of SMECO. The high school seniors just have to be enrolled or plan to enroll full time in an accredited college, university, or trade school.

For more information, or to obtain an application, go to the SMECO website, linked above.

Eligible students need to have maintained a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale. The four scholarships, $1,500 each, will be awarded based on scholastic achievement, financial need, and community and school involvement. As part of the application process, students must submit an essay on “Why Is a College Education Important to Completing My Lifetime Goals?” Scholarship finalists will be interviewed Saturday, April 22, 2017.

Students may obtain an application from their school’s career counselor or by calling SMECO at 1-888-440-3311, ext. 4340. Applications also are available online here and at the customer service desk in SMECO’s Leonardtown and Hughesville offices.

Completed application packages with all items submitted together may be taken to a SMECO office or mailed to the attention of Bernadette Lewis, SMECO, P.O. Box 1937, Hughesville, MD 20637. When mailing, please allow time for delivery.

SMECO provides electricity to more than 160,000 services in southern Prince George’s County, and in Charles County, St. Mary’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 these members elect the men and women who serve on the board of directors.

Co-ops also issue capital credits to their 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 the SMECO 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.

For more information about SMECO, visit their Leader member page.

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