Watts Up - Spring 2021

WATT’S UP SUWANNEE VALLEY ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE EMPLOYEE AND RETIREE NEWSLETTER | SPRING 2021

from the CEO Our future is bright

Spring is here, and SVEC has been buzzing with activity. Earlier this year, the cooperative purchased 20 acres adjacent to the Scott substation for a possible future solar-generation site.

With the beginning of the construction of a new Operations parking lot and storm staging yard, we set in motion a number of campus improvements that will aid our day-to-day activities and make us more resilient after major storms. Additionally, the board of trustees approved the 20212023 Construction Work Plan that will allow us to continue improving the reliability of our service. In April, we held our first ever completely virtual annual meeting. 1,243 members registered for the meeting and voted

by Proxy to reelect Tyler Putnal, Sidney Lord and Andy Walker to the board.

In this issue of Watt’s Up, you can read some valuable member experience, cybersafety, and EAP solutions and recommendations. We also recognize a few of the outreach activities SVEC has recently engaged in, including the installation of a WeatherSTEM weather station at Suwannee Pineview Elementary.

See CEO, Page 8

SMORE

Safety Member Experience Outreach to Community Reliability Economic Viability

SAFETY

Free COVID-19 vaccines now available The Suwannee County Health Department is offering free COVID-19 vaccinations for those aged 18 and older.

Both the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines have been approved by the Food and Drug Association to be safe and effective, reducing the risk of illness by 94-95%.

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Patients are considered fully vaccinated two weeks after the second shot. People who have had an immediate allergic reaction to any vaccine or injectable medication should be cautious about getting the vaccine and consult their doctor.

revenue. Responsiveness is also a human quality. Think about your business and your customers as a relationship.

Your ability to be responsive and proactive to challenges and changes is essential to keeping the relationship intact.

To schedule an appointment, call the health department at 386362-2708. SVEC employees should also notify De Smith upon full vaccination.

Empathy: Empathy is the ability to understand other people’s emotions and feel their point of view. It’s being able to imagine yourself in someone else’s situation and understand why they feel the way they do.

MEMBER EXPERIENCE

To relate to customers, you need empathy. Empathy in business is about listening to and understanding your customers. It makes a connection that goes beyond simply answering questions, solving problems or providing service.

It’s what makes us human and differentiates the small business experience from the big box stores and online retailers.

To create more empathy, you should aim to hire people who are naturally empathetic. Train them to communicate empathetically and intentionally value empathy across the entire customer experience. Empathy also needs to be a deciding factor in every decision you make in your business, including when using technology.

How To Create a More Human Experience In Your Business

With responsiveness and empathy as key anchors of a more human experience strategy, take a closer look at your customer experience and what your customers value most when they interact with your business. Does it meet or exceed their expectations? When you do, you will create a unique and memorable customer experience. Now that would be Magical!

by John Formica Customers expect you to deliver exceptional experiences no matter what is happening. In fact, customers often need better experiences when they are dealing with disruption or uncertainty.

OUTREACH TO COMMUNITY

I believe the best customer experience is about delivering a more human experience for your customer. This will enable your business to differentiate itself in a way that delivers increased value to your customers while improving retention and loyalty.

The customer experience is about how you make the customer feel throughout their entire journey with your business. The more positive the experience (i.e. making your customer feel loved, admired, and respected), the more they value your business.

WeatherSTEM

Through the generosity of SVEC members who participate in Operation Round Up and some additional funding by the co-op, SVEC was able to provide Suwannee Pineview Elementary with a WeatherSTEM weather station. The station will serve as a learning tool for students throughout the school district.

Weather data from the station appears in the top right hand corner of the GRID home page, and is updated every 60 seconds.

So how do you drive this more human experience? There are two important components that become the foundation of your human customer experience.

Responsiveness: Responsiveness is the ability to adapt to change going on in your industry, customer needs, government impact and spikes in growth or lean times. When you and your employees are responsive, you can quickly meet new demands and serve your customers while still driving 2

Clay shoot

Chris Driver, Evan Skeen and Jimmy Williams represented SVEC at the Corinth Christian Academy clay shoot in March. The cooperative is an annual sponsor for the event and looks forward to participating each year.

Egg drop

SVEC continued a tradition in April by participating in Suwannee Pineview Elementary’s annual egg drop.

This 27-year-old tradition has students combine science and creativity to create an egg carrier that can help a raw egg survive a drop from the top of our bucket truck.

RELIABILITY

STEMposium

SVEC participated in Suwannee Pineview Elementary’s first-ever STEMposium. Students created a showcase of various STEMbased projects and later spoke with representatives from SVEC and other organizations to learn about some of the science behind what we do.

Reality check

Storm yard construction begins

Construction for SVEC operations’ parking area and storm yard has begun. The site will be used as a staging area for additional crews and equipment during storm restorations and is expected to be completed before the start of hurricane season.

Students at Holy Cross Academy were in for a big “reality check” in April. The students went through a realworld simulation that challenged them to manage a budget randomly assigned to them. SVEC participated by allowing students to “start” an electric account. The program promotes financial literacy and provides students a glimpse of adult life.

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ECONOMIC VIABILITY

1. Ensure your phone’s operating system is always up to date. Operating systems are often updated in order to fix security flaws. Many malicious threats are caused by security flaws that remain unfixed due to an out-of-date operating system.

2. Watch out for malicious apps in your app store. Official app stores regularly remove applications containing malware, but sometimes these dangerous apps slip past and can be downloaded by unsuspecting users. Do your research, read reviews and pay attention to the number of downloads it has. Never download applications from sources other than official app stores.

ADMIN/CYBERSAFETY

3. Ensure applications are not asking for access to things on your phone that are irrelevant to their function.

Applications usually ask for a list of permissions to files, folders, other applications and data before they’re downloaded. Don’t blindly approve these permissions. If the permission requests seem unnecessary, look for an alternative in your app store.

4. Avoid having no password or weak password protection. Many people still don’t use a password to lock their phone. If your device is lost or stolen, thieves will have easy access to all of the information stored on it.

5. Be careful with public Wi-Fi. The bad guys use technology that lets them see what you’re doing. Avoid logging in to your personal online services or performing any sensitive transactions (such as banking) over public Wi-Fi.

FROM OUR EAP

Taking matters into your own hands!

EAP services are available to you and your household members, as well as to dependent children living away from home, up to age 26. There are several ways to access your EAP benefits and services, and our counselors and coaches are always available.

If you would prefer to privately access help topics, our self-help resource center holds over 25,000 webinars, expert articles, tools and videos for you and your eligible family members to explore at will. Available resources cover a variety of topics for family issues, health and wellness, money matters, legal concerns, mental and behavioral health, and selfimprovement. Simply visit www.theEAP.com.

KnowBe4 security tips for your mobile device Most of us have a smartphone, but how many of us really think about the security threats faced by these mobile devices? The bad guys are increasing attacks on mobile devices and targeting your phone to steal personal and business information without you having any idea. Even if you’ve downloaded a security or antivirus application, securing your smartphone goes beyond these services.

These mobile security practices will be your best defense to minimize the risk of exploitation:

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family news

Hello, Baby ...

John Robinson is a grandpa! Adalyn Mae Law was born April 21 weighing 6 pounds, 13 ounces and measuring 19.5 inches long.

Maria Suarez is a grandma! Carter James Albelo was born April 8 weighing 8 pounds, 2 ounces and measuring 21 inches long.

Jessica Graham and her husband, Geoff, welcomed Lundee Ann on March 21.

She weighed 6 pounds, 13 ounces and measured 19.75 inches long.

Jason Hurst’s granddaughter, Dawsyn Brooke Townsend, was born March 15 weighing 7 pounds, 12 ounces and measuring 21.5 inches long.

Annette Bonds welcomed her second grandbaby, Adaline Grace, into the world March 1. She weighed 6 pounds, 8 ounces and measured 20 inches long.

Matthew Dickerson and his wife, Brooke, welcomed Easton Matthew Dickerson Feb. 13. He weighed 8 pounds and measured 20 inches long.

Congratulations, high school graduates!

Chelsea Guillery Suwannee High School Chelsea plans to become a pediatric registered nurse.

Kamdyn Carroll Suwannee High School Kamdyn plans to become a dermatology nurse practitioner.

Kelsey Little Suwannee High School Kelsey plans to enter the University of Tampa this fall as a history major.

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Shalana Akeya Perkins Suwannee High School Shalana plans to study nursing at NFCC and eventually complete her ARNP studies at UCF.

Family Memories

Paige Peacock visited Disney World with her grandson, Brinson, for the first time in March.

Daniel Warren and his family trekked through Florida and Georgia on a family vacation. Some stops on their trip included Legoland, a war plane museum and a turtle hospital.

Kim Plummer celebrated her daughter Eliana’s second birthday with a trip to SeaWorld, where she got to get up close with sea life and meet some of her favorite Sesame Street characters.

Trevita Riley and her family went to the Big Apple! The family got to explore New York City together in April and didn’t let the cooler weather slow them down.

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Leslie Grinnell celebrated Warner’s 6th birthday with a trip to the beach and the Kennedy Space Center.

Congratulations …

Oscar Camacho has joined the co-op as a power system engineer. Oscar worked part time in the engineering department over the summer while completing his Electrical Engineering degree at the University of Florida. Oscar graduated in December from UF and has now accepted a fulltime position with us. We are glad to have him on board!

Austin Long completed his apprentice lineman training and testing and has been promoted to journeyman lineman.

Clent Flowers accepted the position of staking technician and began his new role in March.

Farewell …

Brenda Pryce 10 years of service

Danny Daniels 27 years of service

Joe Barclay was promoted to staking technician team leader and will provide training and support to the rest of the staking team.

In Memoriam …

Leon Edwards 31 years of service

SVEC trustee Sam Roberson passed away Jan. 26.

Sam served as a voice for his District 3 community for over 10 years. When asked what he enjoyed most about serving on the board, Sam replied that he loved the co-op’s employees. We will miss him and the occasional visits he made to say hello.

Braxton Hicks 4 years of service 7

CEO, continued from front

Already this year, we've said farewell to a few of our co-workers, welcomed a new team member and mourned the loss of cherished District 3 trustee Sam Roberson.

As always, our family news section shares some recent moments of joy within the cooperative family, including the

celebration of high school graduates, babies and special family vacations. I think reading about these things will brighten your day, and I look forward to seeing what other exciting events the rest of the year will bring.

— Mike

Submitted by Christy Tuckey

Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries Recipe from: Nutmeg Nanny Yield: 10-12 stuffed berries; total time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

1 pound large strawberries

1 (8-ounce) block cream cheese, room temperature 1/4 cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste (or extract) Graham cracker crumbs Instructions Rinse the strawberries and cut out the stem atop the strawberry, leaving a nice hole to fill the strawberry with filling. Optional: If you would like your strawberries to stand upright (like you see in the picture) slice a tiny section off the bottom. I normally skip this step and just let them rest on their side.

After the strawberries are prepped, add the cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla bean paste to the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix together until smooth and fully combined.

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Add the mixture to a piping bag and fill the inside of the strawberries until the filling reaches the top of the strawberry.

Dip the top of the strawberry in graham cracker crumbs.