Executive Summary Isaac Newton once said, “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” This quote has never rung more true than where we currently sit as a co-op today. Our co-op story is saturated with the thought of using the understanding gained by those before us to make progress, and Roanoke Electric Cooperative’s strategy is no different.
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his year, we reached a sunset on our multi-year strategy known as Responding to the Call. This strategy was a culmination of nearly eight years of strategy execution leading to several highimpact highlights. This strategy’s initiative efforts forged through the highs and lows of the pandemic, still addressing many of the needs of our communities and responding to the call to serve our membership. As we closed out that strategy in 2021, noteworthy highlights included: è Since rebooting its Roanoke Connect initiative in 2020, more than 1,600 subscribers have been connected to the co-op’s fiber network, allowing them to experience high-speed internet and smart grid energy efficiency capabilities. This program enables our member-owners to reap savings on energy costs in deploying WiFi-enabled thermostats and water heater devices. This effort has allowed us to see first-hand how this region badly needs broadband. As we continue to make progress in broadband deployment, we have created a multipronged strategy to ensure that everyone has access. Our path to get there has involved us aggressively going after grant opportunities to support these efforts. Additionally, our plan to pass more homes and compete within and outside of the cooperative’s network will help us build a case to ensure that everyone has broadband access—even in the most remote locations. 2
è Last year, more than 1,200 retrofits were completed through our Upgrade to $ave program. Memberowners continue to receive free energy assessments for their homes and businesses to identify cost-saving energy upgrades. A major milestone of this initiative last year was the completion of measurement and verification on these projects. Projections are one thing, but verifying actual memberowner savings is better. It’s very encouraging to know that our member-owners are saving money by participating in Upgrade to $ave. è Your co-op also made great strides with its Electric Vehicle Pilot Program. Not only has the co-op enrolled three member-owners in the program, but we also installed the area’s first public DC-fast EV charger reducing range anxiety for individuals driving electric vehicles through our region. In turn, this will help stimulate an EV market and make the process simpler for those in the market for an EV. Fortunately, we’ve already put together a good program, and we are taking it to another level to assist member-owners with making their EV purchase. As the adoption rate gains momentum in the region, we anticipate the installation of even more public chargers to relieve range anxiety. è Another notable effort for which the co-op laid the foundation in 2021 included a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)
strategy. Specifically, the co-op explored how this strategy can serve as a significant catalyst in demonstrating value and advantages to impact this region. Moving forward, the co-op plans to measure the results of the impact in its new corporate strategy. è Peter Drucker once said, “what gets measured, gets managed.” As a firm believer in that statement, the co-op focused a lot on managing big data and remained laser-focused on organizational development. To that end, we established a balanced organization prepared for growth in the broadband space while managing costs on the electric utility side. Managing data has been paramount in our ability to balance those efforts. We are proud of the many milestones we’ve witnessed as we close out our initial strategy and this report will detail those key accomplishments. As Newton alluded to, these accomplishments have laid the foundation that will allow us to see further and carry forward into the next phase – Vision 2025. Not only are we preserving a great existing strategy, but we are also building on that strategy to complete some of the initiatives that were started and anticipate reaping the benefits of a more efficient organization as we engage member-owners in efforts that truly demonstrate value. Respectfully,
Marshall Cherry
Allen Speller
PRESIDENT AND CEO
CHAIRMAN
2021 2021Annual AnnualReport Report
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