Butler Rural Electric Cooperative Employee Newsletter Winter 2026
Between THE LINES
WELCOME TO THE WINTER ISSUE OF OUR EMPLOYEE NEWSLETTER! We want to hear from you!
We hope the newsletter keeps you informed about employee and member updates. You will receive Between the Lines every three months. Each issue will feature employee anniversaries, birthdays, upcoming meetings and events, and more.
Do you have information to include in the newsletter or an idea to improve communication? Send feedback, information, and photos to Jade at jadeg@butlerrural.coop.
IN THIS ISSUE
Employee Tailgate PAGE 2
Holiday Harvest Pizza Party PAGE 7
Souper Bowl Soup Carry-In PAGE 10
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March Madness PAGE 12
Between the Lines Winter 2026
EMPLOYEE TAILGATE MONDAY, JANUARY 19
Wear a jersey to showcase your pick for the college football championship game and bring a snack to share!
Birthday Breakfast FEBRUARY 4 7:30 TO 8 A.M.
If your birthday is in January, February, or March, join Tom and other employees in the Community Room for the first quarter birthday breakfast!
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HAZARDS IN THE FIELD > WHAT TO LOOK FOR It's important to report hazards in the field if you see something that looks off when you're outside the office, like when you're on your way home after work. If you see something that could be dangerous, report it. One of our employees will inspect the problem and fix it if needed. Report these problems even if you're unsure it's impacting an electric line or if you don't know if the electric line is in our territory. Doing so will keep our employees and the public safe.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR Shown here is a pole with woodpecker damage. If you see this, report it to Denis.
Employee birthdays JANUARY
FEBRUARY
MARCH
Julie Abbott January 11
Kelsey James February 6
Lisa Broermann March 4
Adam Osborn January 22
Missy Moore February 9
Larry Hornung March 12
Darlene Thompson February 21
Beth Polk March 23
Cheryl Mathews February 26
Bob Conrad March 24 Evan Rauch March 28
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Between the Lines Winter 2026
BUTLER RURAL ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE
2026 Health Screening Join us for our annual health screening!
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 18 COMMUNITY ROOM Make your health your priority. Participate in this year's health screening and take steps toward a better lifestyle! PAGE 4
Employee anniversaries JANUARY
FEBRUARY
MARCH
Riley Salyers January 6 6 years
Rick Zhang February 1 5 years
Adam Bens March 4 2 years
Kelsey James January 9 3 years
Seth Fricke February 8 10 years
Jeremy Hill March 5 19 years
Daniel Chaney January 17 26 years
Wade Bullock February 12 2 years
Steve Abrams March 7 4 years
Andy Denny January 18 5 years
Kevin Maddock February 12 19 years
Curt Loewenstine March 14 15 years
Kyle Fagin January 23 3 years
Tricia Blevins March 21 10 years
Mason Miller January 27 6 years
YOUTH PROGRAMS YOUTH TOUR
High school sophomores and juniors whose parents are co-op members can go on a co-op sponsored trip to Washington, D.C. on the National Electric Cooperative Youth Tour June 14 through 20. Applicants must complete an application by February 13 and a virtual interview February 16 through 19 to qualify.
SCHOLARSHIPS
We offer college scholarships to high school seniors whose parents are members of the co-op.
This year, we have renamed a $2,000 scholarship to the Community Achievement Scholarship. This will be awarded to one high school senior attending a four-year college with a GPA of 3.0 or higher. Applicants must be heavily involved in the community and passionate about improving the quality of life in our service territory. Scholarship applications are due at our office February 13. The top applicants will participate in interviews with judges and will receive a scholarship from Butler Rural Electric Cooperative. Scholarship judging is at our office March 3.
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Between the Lines Winter 2026
Holiday Harvest Food Drive Annual food drive helps local families in need Thank you to those who donated to the 2025 Holiday Harvest Food Drive! We received 2,200 items this year with 629 of those items received from employees! These donations assisted many local families during the holiday season. Butler Rural Electric Cooperative donates $1,000 worth of non-perishable items to the food drive each year.
Township received items from the food drive. Abrielle Marcum also received food from the food drive and partnered with the Talawanda Bus Barn to store and distribute food. Abrielle, a 2025 Butler Rural Electric Cooperative Youth Tour delegate and a Talawanda High School junior, collected food for those in need during the holiday season.
Ross and Morgan Ministries (RAMM) of Butler County Food Pantry and Queen of Peace Church in Hanover
Above, representatives from RAMM Pantry collected food from the cooperative’s office.
Thanks to your donations, we earned an employee pizza party in January! See next page for details. PAGE 6
PIZZA PARTY
Time! Thank you for donating to Holiday Harvest!
JAN. 23 BREAK ROOM 11-1
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Between the Lines Winter 2026
Changes to capital credits retirement beginning in 2027 Butler Rural Electric Cooperative’s board of trustees is modernizing the cooperative’s capital credits process to compassionately handle the accounts of deceased members. This change gives members two options for how capital credits are handled after death. The method members choose affects who receives their capital credits and when they are paid. Before capital credits can be paid, any outstanding balance on a member’s account must be paid. If the account is not paid in full, the capital credits will be held against the debt. Any outstanding debts will have capital credits applied to them at a net present value. The amount will be calculated to the net present value based on the current number of years in the retirement cycle.
Option 1 – Estate retirement
With this option, capital credits will be paid to the probated estate of the deceased member. In this case, the estate will receive capital credits at a net present value. The amount will be calculated to the net present value based on the current number of years in the retirement cycle.
Option 2 – Transfer on Death (TOD) Beneficiary
To avoid the estate process, members can opt to designate a primary beneficiary to receive their capital credits. Upon death, capital credits will be assigned to the designee’s account and be treated as patronage capital subject to the same general retirement cycle for all cooperative members. This helps ensure a member's capital credits are handled according to their wishes in the future. Butler Rural Electric Cooperative will begin accepting TOD forms January 2, 2026. The form must be signed by the current member and notarized. Members can fill out and print the TOD form at butlerrural.coop and return it to our office. Forms are also available at the cooperative’s office. Members can change designated beneficiaries by filing a new form and can cancel a TOD form by notifying the cooperative. It is the member’s responsibility to keep the information on the TOD form current. This includes the mailing address for the beneficiary. A power of attorney representative cannot file a TOD form to themselves.
MEMBER WINTER ASSISTANCE PROGRAM Members have extra time to pay their electric bills during the winter season, when higher than normal bills are common due to increased heating system use. From November 1 through April 15, members have
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10 extra days to pay their bill without disconnection. These 10 days begin the day after our due date, which is typically the 20th of the month. If the 20th falls on a weekend or holiday, the due date is moved to the next business day. If you have questions about this program, see Darlene.
Butler REC, Inc. 3888 Stillwell-Beckett Oxford, OH 45056-9338
CAPITAL CREDITS NOTICES Capital credits checks were mailed to members in November. Members who have not cashed or deposited ATTN: Someone National Information Solutions Cooperative their checks will receive notices by mail and email asking them to promptly do so. The first notice will be 123 Fake St. sent February 9 and a second notice will be sent March 9. Below is an example of the notices. Apt 1 St. Louis, MO 12345
December 19, 2025 Re: Capital Credits Check Not Cashed Dear , According to our records, your capital credits check from Butler Rural Electric Cooperative has not been cashed or deposited as of March 5, 2025. The check was mailed to you in November 2024. Please cash the check immediately or choose one of the options below and return this letter. Thank you for your cooperation. Sincerely, Evan Rauch Manager of Accounting and Finance/CFO Butler Rural Electric Cooperative, Inc. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____ Please issue a duplicate check. _____ Apply the capital credits amount to my electric bill. _____ Automatically apply my capital credits amount to my bill each year. _____ Donate my capital credits check to Butler Rural Community Connection. ______________________________
______________________________
______________
Signature of Payee
Title (if for a corporation)
Date
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Between the Lines Winter 2026
SOUPER BOWL n I y r r Ca Soup
Wednesday, February 18
All contributors will be entered into a drawing for a prize!
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Why is the demand for electricity rising?
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Demand for electricity in the U.S. is booming. Recent data shows power consumption nationwide is set to increase by at least 38 gigawatts (that’s 21 Cardinal Plants) between now and 2028. Meeting this new demand will require a combination of new power plants, grid upgrades, and energy storage technology advancements. Here are key factors driving increased demand:
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Increased Electrification: Electric vehicle adoption, electrification of home heating, and industrial electrification are increasing overall U.S. energy consumption.
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Data Centers: Driven by explosions in AI, cryptocurrency, and cloud computing, total U.S. data center load is projected to increase by 65% by 2050.
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Economic Growth: Residential power consumption is expected to increase by 14% to 22% through 2050 due to increases in population and steady economic growth.
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Manufacturing Growth: New and expanding manufacturing capacity driven by federal incentives is expected to increase industrial demand by 13,000 GWh per year.
SAFETY FIRST AGENDA
Please be aware of the location of the closest AED when in different areas of the building.
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Between the Lines Winter 2026
Upcoming events JANUARY
FEBRUARY
Employee Tailgate January 19
Birthday Breakfast February 4
Drug Free Workplace Training for Drivers and Supervisors January 23
Safety Committee Meeting February 12
Board Meeting January 28
Health Screening & Souper Bowl Carry-In February 18 Board Meeting February 25
MARCH MADNESS
Basketball
WEAR YOUR FAVORITE SCHOOL COLORS & BRING A SNACK TO SHARE!
FRIDAY, MARCH 20
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MARCH Community Connection Board Meeting March 11 March Madness March 20 Board of Trustees Election Begins March 23 Board Meeting March 25
STAY
informed You should receive Changing Currents by email every two weeks. Changing Currents is created and published by Ohio's Electric Cooperatives, the service organization owned by the electric co-ops in our state. The emails contain news and information from electric co-ops across Ohio. If you don't receive Changing Currents, let Julie, Missy, or Kim know and they will sign you up to receive the emails.
VIRTUAL ANNUAL MEETING THURSDAY, APRIL 30
Our virtual annual meeting is Thursday, April 30 at 6:30 p.m. Members can view the meeting online or listen by phone. During the meeting, members will hear from our board president and general manager and learn about our upcoming projects and programs. Board election results will be announced and members will be able to submit questions to be addressed during the meeting. PAGE 13
Between the Lines Winter 2026
RESIDENTIAL REBATES
We offer a variety of rebates to make it easier for members to save on energyefficient upgrades. View our new and updated rebates, launching January 1, below. GEOTHERMAL SYSTEMS
RHEEM MARATHON WATER HEATERS
> $1,200 for the purchase of a new geothermal system
> 50 gallon – $350 rebate
> Increased to $800 for the purchase of a replacement geothermal system
> 85 gallon – $550 rebate
Members with qualifying geothermal systems receive a reduced kWh rate on a portion of their electric use. The geothermal discount rate is a $.02 credit per kWh used between 1001-2501 kWh from September through May.
Radio-controlled switches are required for water heater rebates.
> 100 gallon – $650 rebate
NEW HEAT PUMP WATER HEATERS
HEAT PUMPS
> $650 for the purchase of a new heat pump water heater
> $600 for the purchase of a new dual fuel heat pump
NEW INSULATION AND AIR SEALING
> Increased to $600 rebate for the purchase of a replacement dual fuel heat pump
> 50% of installation of insulation, $800 maximum
> Increased to $600 rebate for the purchase of a new or replacement air-source heat pump to an existing electric back-up system
NEW ENERGY STAR APPLIANCE REBATE
Members with dual fuel receive a reduced kWh rate of 2¢ on any heat pump use from September through May.
LEVEL 2 ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGER
> 50% of installation of air sealing, $400 maximum
> $150 for installation of a new central air conditioning unit > $100 for the installation of a new refrigerator or freezer
SMART THERMOSTAT > 50% of the purchase of a new thermostat unit, $150 maximum
> $1,000
MEMBER SATISFACTION SURVEYS We're working with NRECA Market Research Services to complete member satisfaction surveys by phone and email. The surveys are random, so not every member will be contacted. Members will receive the surveys beginning in March or April. The survey results will give us our ACSI score. ACSI stands for American Customer Satisfaction Index. ACSI scores are calculated for companies across all industries and measure overall consumer satisfaction.
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We're running a campaign to show members the value of their cooperative membership again this year. Campaign resources include Ohio Cooperative Living ads, bill inserts, SmartHub banners, web banners, webpage content, and social media graphics and content.
The goal of the campaign is to increase member awareness of the value of their co-op membership and increase our ACSI score.
MARK YOUR CALENDAR! ENERGY DAY
with Talawanda Middle School Monday, May 18
FAMILY DAY Friday, July 10
GOLF OUTING
at Indian Ridge Golf Club Friday, August 14
Our mission
Do you have information to include in the employee newsletter or an idea to improve communication? Send feedback, information, and photos to Jade at jadeg@butlerrural.coop.
To be a dynamic, progressive organization guided by cooperative principles and to provide energy and other value-added services to its members. The cooperative will participate in its communities, providing leadership and support to improve the quality of life for all of its citizens.
BUTLER RURAL ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE BUTLER RURAL ELECTRIC
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