News for members of Pearl River Valley Electric Power Association
Billups nostalgia
Periodical postage (ISSN 1052 2433)
drives diner concept
Guy Billups III
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MFWC cookbook supports heart health
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Historic school to be preserved
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Today in Mississippi
September 2018
PRVEPA Contact Information: Columbia: 601-736-2666 Hattiesburg: 601-264-2458
Purvis: 601-794-8051 Wiggins: 601-928-7277
To pay bills or report outages:
855-2PRVEPA (855-277-8372) Visit us on line at www.PRVEPA.com Member owned. Locally operated. That’s the cooperative difference.
President’s Report The same cooperative spirit that created Pearl River Valley Electric Power Association 80 years ago has contributed to another successful B. F. Hudson Jr. year for your President of the Board Association. of Directors Our goal remains to provide high quality electric service at the lowest possible cost in keeping with sound business practices. Your Board of Directors is committed to meeting the needs of our member-owners. Throughout these years of service, we have worked hard to gain the trust and respect of our members—for it is that trust and respect we value most. As your Board, we will continue to work toward maintaining the
economic strength and stability of your Association. WHOLESALE POWER COSTS Purchasing wholesale power accounts for nearly 80 percent of our overall cost of providing electric service to members. PRVEPA is a member-owner of Cooperative Energy, a generation and transmission cooperative. This arrangement ensures us of having our wholesale power delivered on a not-for-profit basis. Cooperative Energy’s strategy to generate electricity is to use a broad mix of fuels—including coal, gas, nuclear, hydro and other renewable sources—which helps keep costs as low as possible. Finding new, cost-effective ways to meet our wholesale power needs is a continuing priority and your PRVEPA Board will be closely watching developments throughout the industry. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT Your Association is very active in promoting
economic development for our 12-county service area. We work with state and local organizations, as well as Cooperative Energy, to encourage new and existing businesses to expand where possible, so that additional employment and other economic benefits will come to our area. CORE BUSINESS Many electric power associations have undertaken various business enterprises other than their primary function of providing electricity to customers. We have studied this matter carefully at different times over the years. Each time your Board of Directors has determined that our primary purpose should continue to be furnishing electric service to our members at the lowest possible cost. Furthermore, no activities will be engaged in which will interfere with, or diminish, that purpose. However, we will not close the door on looking at different business activities should opportunities
present themselves in the future. ANNUAL MEETING Pearl River Valley is an electric cooperative owned by the consumers it serves. The annual meeting gives members an opportunity to learn about the progress of your Association and to participate in its business plans. We encourage you to be an active, informed member and attend the annual membership meeting. Pearl River Valley has developed a strong membership and a level of service comparable to any utility in the nation. This annual report supports the fact that we continue to operate a financially sound cooperative under the control of its membership. Your Board of Directors remains committed to this tradition. As President of your Association, I am proud to present this report for your consideration.
Secretary-Treasurer’s Report The Association’s records and accounts were audited by Topp, McWhorter, Harvey, PLLC, Certified Public Accountants. The report was complimentary of your General Manager and staff. It also showed the records and accounts in excellent condition and that the Association is in a financially strong condition. The following is from the annual audit dated December 31, 2017: • Total electric plant increased $1,185,402, bringing the total to Danny Wilks $165,876,154. Secretary-Treasurer • Assets total $236,164,926, which reflects an increase of $2,505,988 for of the Board of Directors the year. • The member-owners of Pearl River Valley Electric Power Association have equity of 39.8% in the system. REGULAR PATRONAGE REFUND Your Board of Directors is dedicated to the principal of returning patronage capital to our memberowners—in fact, we were the first electric power association in Mississippi to start paying regular patronage refunds. This year we refunded $2,200,000 to our members. In addition, Cooperative Energy, our wholesale power provider which is a cooperative owned by PRVEPA and 10 other electric power associations, began returning capital credits in 2015. Those credits, totaling $460,614 for 2017, will be returned to applicable PRVEPA members, increasing the total amount returned to $2,660,614. We have now made patronage refunds to our member-owners for 55 years, totaling more than
$48 million. Very few 42 49 43 electric 13 cooperatives 35 587 in the nation 44 can surpass 98 our record 589 of paying patronage refunds to their 13 11 43 members. PATRONAGE 59 REFUNDS TO DECEASED AND FORMER MEMBERS In 1988, your Board of Directors started a program where we return the accumulated patronage capital to the estates of deceased members. In addition, a program for offering discounted capital credit refunds to former members was initiated in 2016. We have returned more than $13 million through these programs, including $741,000 in 2017.
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September 2018 Today in Mississippi
General Manager’s Report I am pleased to present this annual report to our members. Pearl River Valley Electric was founded in 1938 by a handful of people coming Randy Wallace together to meet a General Manager common need. Now 80 years later, that spirit of working together is still very much alive in all we do. Because Pearl River Valley Electric is memberowned, it is vital that each of you be aware of the changes and challenges that we face together. As a local, not-for-profit organization, our Association’s overall priority is to provide electric service that is affordable, safe and reliable. I am proud to be able to say that we have seen many good results over the past year. SYSTEM GROWTH AND IMPROVEMENT For 2017, the number of meters served by the Association increased 0.7% from 48,951 to 49,318, while our annual sales of electricity—992,821,799 kilowatt hours (kWh)—were about 3.9% below 2016. Maintaining reliable service to members requires continual planning and upgrading of our lines and equipment. In 2017, our crews added nearly 90 miles of new overhead and underground lines to our system, which now has more than 6,000 miles of lines and 25 substations throughout our 12-county service area. RIGHT-OF-WAY TRIMMING Right-of-way (ROW) trimming is an essential part of our maintenance program. Our goal is to rotate through our entire system every 6-7 years, which means we trim nearly 1000 miles of ROW annually. We sincerely appreciate all the cooperation we receive from members in allowing us to cut adequate right-of-way. Your continued help and understanding are vital when crews are clearing lines that serve your home. It could mean the difference in the reliability of your electric service as well as your safety. SYSTEM MAINTENANCE AND OUTAGES Pearl River Valley Electric has an excellent outage record that is well below the national average. On average, our members experience very few outages lasting only short amounts of time, which is remarkable when you consider that electric service is a 24/7 commodity. We continue to implement a pole inspection program to change out bad poles that could possibly cause power outages. As always, over the past year we also replaced, upgraded or retired
Annual meeting
set for September 22 essay contest for junior class students in high equipment and facilities as needed. schools located within our service area. A judging SAFETY All members of Pearl River Valley Electric All of our employees are committed to working committee reviews the essays and selects the Power Association are invited to attend the winners. The winners attend a three-day youth safely. They have adopted a full time culture of annual meeting of members on Sat., Sept. leadership workshop in Jackson and during the safety and strive to work accident free each and 22, 2018. Registration will begin at 9:30 a.m. summer they travel with other Mississippi every day. An effective safety program not only at the Association’s meeting room facility students to Washington, D.C. for the week-long ensures the well-being of employees, but also Youth Tour. saves your Association money. (Lawrence Building) in Columbia at 1428 This year’s winners were Thomas Hahn of MEMBER PROGRAMS Highway 13 North. The meeting will begin Columbia High School and Katie Norris of West Pearl River Valley has always been committed at 10:30 a.m. to building strong, enduring relationships with our Marion High School. Both of these young people Member participation at the annual members because you are the reason our organiza- have been outstanding representatives for Pearl meeting is important to elect directors, River Valley Electric. tion exists. And because we are operated locally, hear reports covering the operation of the THE SPIRIT OF COOPERATION ENHANCES we are also dedicated to assisting the Association and to transact other business QUALITY OF LIFE communities in which we live. that may come before the meeting. I would again like to say thank you to our Our member services department is constantly Included on the agenda is the election looking for new ways to provide valuable informa- members. We appreciate your support, patience of three directors to three-year terms. tion and programs. I would encourage everyone to and trust. It has been a privilege to serve you Nominated for director posts are: make use of our website as often as possible, as it this past year, and we will continue to work District 3: Hugh Gene Smith hard in coming years to meet and exceed your has features related to wise energy use and other District 6: Joe Shelton, III expectations. services designed to make your dealings with us District 8: Lawrence Warren I am very proud to be your general manager more efficient. We offer a mobile app that offers PRVEPA will award 12 attendance prizes, and to be a part of the cooperative way of doing similar services. You may also call us about home including a $1,250 certificate for electricity. business. I’m also proud of our employees’ energy audits, advice on the proper sizing on You must be present at the meeting to be dedication and hard work. By communicating heating and air-conditioning systems, and eligible for the attendance prizes. If you educational programs for civic groups and schools. and working together, we can ensure our ability cannot attend the meeting, mail in your This will be our sixth year of operating Round Up to continue providing the affordable, safe and annual meeting ballot today. By returning reliable electric service that enhances the quality for Education, a community college scholarship your ballot you will be eligible for the of all of our lives. program designed to encourage members and absentee prizes. their children to continue their education. The vast majority of our members are rounding up their bills each Be looking for more information on month, which is providing the money to fund the scholarships. Over the past five years, more than 1,000 students have received nearly $935,000 in scholarships P R O G R A M 2 0 1 9 to help with their education costs, and this year we have more than 270 applicants. Without doubt this program is a unique and collaborative way to improve the quality of life for hundreds of families in the communities we serve. It is an outstanding example of what can be accomplished by cooperative members working together; I don’t think there’s another program like it in the country. YOUTH LEADERSHIP ESSAY CONTEST Each year Pearl River You may go to our website at www.prvepa.com, and also look for Valley Electric sponsors an information in the upcoming October issue of Today in Mississippi.
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