Suwannee Valley
Since its earliest days, the mission of Suwannee Valley Electric Cooperative has focused on serving the needs of this community. After the invention of electricity and its arrival in major cities, big power companies decided there was too little profit to bring this service to rural areas. So, communities like ours went without until the passage of the Rural Electrification Act.
Residents were able to take matters into their own hands. They spent months going door to door, explaining to their neighbors how a local electric system could change their lives. When they had enough support, they established Suwannee Valley Electric Cooperative to make their big ideas a reality.
This year, we celebrate the 85th anniversary of that decision. In the decades since, much has changed about the way our cooperative does business. Our electric system is automated to make service more reliable than our founders could have dreamed. System outages register so quickly that we often know about them before members can even pick up the phone. And paying your bill is as easy as a few taps on a smartphone.
But for all that innovation there is so much more about our co-op that hasn’t aged a day. We are still owned by the people we serve and answerable to you. Membership still costs just $5, even though the value of those dollars has changed
significantly. And we still exist to bring people a crucial service that might not otherwise be available.
In fact, it’s fitting that the year we celebrate an anniversary like this is the same one that we announced our new Rapid Fiber Internet project. Once complete, the new network will bring high-speed internet access to our members, transforming our area just as the arrival of electricity did decades ago.
The technology has expanded, going from electric service that lights homes at night to internet service that provides new opportunities for business, education, health care and more. But the mission is the same as it was 85 years ago.
I hope each of you will take the time to read more about our cooperative history in this newsletter, including the many ways that history lives on today. We should all be proud of what SVEC has accomplished and excited for what is still to come.
As we come together with friends and family this month to celebrate Thanksgiving, I know I have plenty to give thanks for. I’m grateful to be part of a cooperative that has done so much to help the people we serve. I’m grateful to call this amazing community home. And I’m grateful for each and every one of you. We’ve come a long way in 85 years, and I can’t wait to see what more we can achieve in the 85 years to come.
Suwannee Valley Currents is a monthly newsletter published by Suwannee Valley Electric Cooperative, © 2022. It is distributed without charge to all consumermembers of the cooperative.
Business Office: 800-447-4509 11340 100th St. Live Oak, FL 32060
Lobby Hours: 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Monday-Friday
Drive-thru Kiosk Open 24 Hours 24/7 Power Outage Reporting 800-752-0025
svec-coop.com Instagram.com/sveccoop
facebook.com/sveccoop @SVEC_COOP_FL
SVEC is an equal opportunity provider and employer.
On the cover:
SVEC is celebrating our 85th anniversary, we invite you to take a look back through years of proud service to this community. See story, Page 4.
Let SVEC know if you notice a streetlight or area light that isn’t on or is malfunctioning.
Request a repair through the SmartHub app by tap ping on “Report an Issue/Inquiry” at the top of the home screen. Then, “Other Issues/General Inquiry” and “Area Light Repair.” Use the comments section to let us know the light’s location.
You can also call 800-447-4509 to report a problem. An SVEC member services representative will contact those who report a malfunctioning area light by the end of the next business day.
Do you need a reminder of when your bill is due each month? Maybe you’d like confirmation that your last pay ment was posted successfully. With SmartHub, you can set up notifications to let you know:
• When your bill is available.
SVEC’s office will be closed on Thursday, Nov. 24, and Friday, Nov. 25, in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday.
Our 24-hour outage reporting system is always avail able, as is our drive-thru payment kiosk. Standby crews will restore power if needed.
• When a payment is due.
• When your payment has posted.
• When your bill is overdue.
• If there is a problem with your payment method.
When you log in to your account, you can customize your notifications to arrive by text or email. You can even set how many days in advance you would like notifications to be sent. Get started today at svecsmarthub.com.
For decades, Suwannee Valley Electric Cooperative has powered our members’ lives and businesses. As we celebrate our 85th anniversary, we invite you to take a look back through years of proud service to this community. Though the tools and tech nology we use to get the job done may have changed, other aspects of the cooperative’s mission have remained remarkably stable through the decades.
It didn’t take long after Thomas Edison built the first electric system for Manhattan in 1882 for many large cities to follow suit. But rural Americans remained largely in the dark for decades. After all, building power lines to reach sparsely populated areas was rarely, if ever, profitable. Then the Rural Electrification Act opened the door for coop eratives to provide electricity to regions the major power companies would not.
Dec. 29, 1937 — Enough members were recruited to allow the signing of the articles of incorporation establishing Suwannee Valley Electric Cooperative.
1940 — SVEC’s first lines were energized. The co-op served just 69 members. Today, it serves more than 19,000. 1948 — SVEC’s board of trustees realized the need for a unified bargaining tool to negotiate the price of power purchased from larger investor-owned utilities. Together with trustees from 10 other distribution co-ops, they organized Seminole Electric Cooperative.
1973 — The oil crisis prompted a decision by Seminole to build its own coal-fired power plant, the Seminole Generating Station.
1984 — Seminole Generating Station came online. Seminole would go on to add the Midulla natural gas-fired power plant to its generation portfolio and become one of the largest power generation and transmission companies in the U.S.
May 1936 — President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Rural Electrification Act. For a year and a half after, a handful of local visionaries like Clyde Hart, Madison Smith and Eula Fletcher spread the word about the benefits an electric cooperative would bring to the Suwannee Valley.
In the decades since its establishment, SVEC has imple mented a host of new technologies to improve the qual ity of our members’ electric service and increase reliabil ity to levels unimaginable to the co-op’s founders. The computerized outage management system and the radio and micro wave-based (soon to be fiber optic) supervi sory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system are just two examples. There are also electronic devices that can recognize faults along power lines and automatically reroute the flow of electricity to consumers.
Tools like SVEC’s website, the SmartHub account man agement app and an interactive pay-by-phone system have improved the member experience by making it easier than ever to do business with the cooperative. In years past, members had to travel to SVEC’s office in Live Oak to pay their bills. Today, they can use their com puters or mobile devices to pay their bills, view past bills, analyze electricity usage, request service and chat online with a member service representative.
While the technologies SVEC uses to deliver reliable power and excellent customer service may have changed drastically since 1937, there are some constants. Membership in the cooperative is still $5, and members are still able to elect board members they trust to repre sent them. In addition, our commitment to improving the quality of life in the community has been unwavering. In fact, it’s grown considerably over the years.
From monetary and in-kind contributions for dozens of community organizations to participation in numerous local events, SVEC’s support for the community has never been stronger. Nowhere is this more visible than in our initiatives to aid local students.
For more than 40 years, SVEC has hosted area high school students on tours of Tallahassee and Washington, D.C., to show the importance of civic engagement and see how state and federal governments work.
SVEC has awarded $83,000 to local high school seniors since the co-op’s board of trustees established its scholarship program in 2015. These scholarships are awarded each year to some of the area’s outstanding graduates who want to continue their education at an accredited post-secondary or vocational education institution.
In the four years since SVEC launched its Operation Round Up® program, more than $400,000 in grants have been awarded to local schools for items that directly benefit students in the classroom. Books, lab equipment, art supplies, math modules and audio-visual equipment are just a few examples. Made possible by the generosity of the co-op’s members, Operation Round Up will continue to be a blessing to our community’s teachers who work so diligently to give our children the best education possible.
Perhaps most importantly, SVEC and other electric cooperatives are still looking out for rural communities in ways that large for-profit corporations do not. With SVEC’s recently announced plan to build a 100% fiber high-speed internet network, the cooperative is once again stepping forward to grab a once-in-85-years opportunity and provide a vital new service to its members.
3 quarts popped popcorn (about 2 bags microwave popcorn, popped)
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter (no substitute) 1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed 1/4 cup dark corn syrup
Heat oven to 250 F.
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon vanilla 2 cups mixed nuts
Place popped popcorn in a large, 4-inch-deep buttered baking pan, and place it in the oven to keep warm. In a large saucepan, melt the butter over low heat. Stir in brown sugar, corn syrup and salt. Bring to a soft boil, stirring constantly. Boil without stirring for 5 minutes. Remove from heat, and quickly stir in the baking soda and vanilla.
Remove popcorn from the oven. After slowly pouring syrup mixture over popcorn, add nuts and mix well. This may prove a bit difficult at first, as the caramel mixture hardens quickly once removed from the heat.
Butter a large cookie sheet and turn the popcorn mixture into the pan. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. You don’t want the popcorn to be overly brown. Remove from the oven and cool completely. Break apart. Store in tightly covered tins
One word of caution: Be sure to weed out all unpopped kernels so there are no unexpectedly hard bites in this delicious, sweet-salty snack.
Water heating can be the secondlargest energy expense in many homes, accounting for about 18% of your total energy usage. Cutting down on hot water use is one way to save money. But you don’t have to sacrifice comfort for lower costs.
Try setting your water heat er’s temperature to 120 degrees Fahrenheit. Many water heaters are set to 140 degrees Fahrenheit by default, even though house holds rarely need that much heat.
in line with manufacturer recommendations could save you 7% to 16% on your annual heating costs. Insulating hot water pipes can add another 3% to 4% to your savings.
To learn more about how to save energy, click on the “Energy Efficiency” tab on the SVEC web site, svec-coop.com.
When you save energy, you save money. Check back here each month for new ways to make your home or business more energy efficient.
To help your water heater run more efficiently, check if the tank is warm to the touch. If it is, insulating it
You can find almost any type of cui sine in gourmet restaurants in south ern Florida’s coastal cities. But to experience authentic Florida cook ing with complimentary Latino and Southern soul flavors, take a ride inland through the pastoral farm fields of the peninsula’s southern interior.
Whether you work up an appetite enjoying outdoor activities such as fishing, skydiving or bird-watching, or choose to dine for dining’s sake, culi nary adventures await you at these Okeechobee restaurants.
Kissimmee River, just above where it pours into Lake Okeechobee next to the Okee-Tante Recreation Area, the view could not be prettier. Here’s where you expand your palate. Try the catnips for an appetizer, along with succulent oysters. Order frog legs and shrimp by the pound. Dig into fresh Gulf grouper or catfish caught in Lake O. Gator tail is always available, and you have to try the “cooter,” which is freshwater turtle.
delicacies including collard greens, incredible fried chicken and can died yams. The collards come fresh from the fields of the Everglades Agricultural Area. You may also want to try the ribs or pork chops with cream of corn and beans. The beans and corn were grown nearby, and you haven’t tasted sweet corn until you’ve tried sweet corn from the Glades.
Lightsey’s has served the most authentic Glades food for several generations. If it walks, crawls or swims in Florida, they probably serve it. Located on the bank of the
LATINO CUISINE — Café Tropical in Clewiston serves outstanding Cuban food at bargain prices. You can’t go wrong with the Cuban sandwich or medianoche. The oxtail is excellent. Enjoy yuca as well as black beans and rice as sides. The Sunrise Restaurant, also in Clewiston, offers excellent Mexican cuisine and some of the biggest, tastiest margaritas on earth. Pueblo Viejo Restaurant in Okeechobee is a local favorite that makes a great avo cado salad and carne asada among many other great Mexican dishes. The margaritas are also awesome.
SOUL FOOD — The Banyan Tree Café in Belle Glade serves soul food
GREAT STEAKS — Okeechobee is a cattle town, and you can bet that the beef you’ll enjoy at the Speckled Perch Steakhouse was grazed nearby. It’s known for the sound of the “saw” coming from the kitchen where all steaks are cut, trimmed and cooked to order. The Bream Room gets a little wild most weekend nights with great bands playing.
As your hometown cooperative, every one at SVEC loves getting out in the community and taking part in events. Here are a few highlights from the last month.
CEO Mike McWaters and Fleet Mechanic Raymond Poole piloted SVEC’s new mini bucket truck at its debut in the Suwannee High School
Homecoming Parade. When not in a parade, the aerial bucket lift portion of the truck can be removed and the cart used for other purposes around SVEC’s headquarters.
Mark the Scarecrow Lineworker was at the Melody Church Pumpkin Patch throughout October.
SVEC raised the flag over the entrance to the Wings Over Suwannee event at the Suwannee County Airport.
Employees and a spouse from SVEC drove the rescue cart and handed out bottles of water at the Pregnancy Care Center of Live Oak 5K.
In February, SVEC will host a tour of Tallahassee and the co-op’s facilities in Live Oak for up to 10 high school juniors. While in Tallahassee, students will explore Florida’s legislative process.
Possible activities include a visit to the state Capitol, participation in a mock bill debate on the floor of the Senate or House of Representatives, and visits to the Florida Supreme Court and offices of our state legislators.
To be eligible for the 2023 tour, Feb. 15-16, a student must be enrolled in the 11th grade of a high school or home-school program in SVEC’s service territory and have an unweighted grade point average of at least 3.0. The student must also be a dependent of an SVEC member, but cannot be a child or grandchild of a current SVEC employee or trustee.
Applications due to SVEC by Jan. 20, 2023.
Two of the students who go on the tour will also be selected to represent SVEC in Washington, D.C., at the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association Youth Tour tentatively scheduled for June 13-18, 2023. They will be flown to Washington and join students from around the country on visits to sites such as the Lincoln Memorial, Arlington National Cemetery, Smithsonian and Mount Vernon. SVEC will pay for the trip.
Get an application online at svec-coop.com/youth-tour or through your junior-class guidance counselor.