by - Zac Perkins, CEO
Powering Our Communities
You may have noticed some new initiatives at Tri-County Electric Cooperative (TCEC). Three Oklahoma Panhandle State University (OPSU) students are now attending our board meetings with your elected trustees as part of the Collegiate Delegate program. We renamed our quarterly town hall to “Chat with Zac” to attract a broader audience and make the online live broadcasts more informal. We are targeting our messages to more specific segments of the membership, so you hear the right message, the right way at the right time.
These initiatives are part of the cooperative’s goal to engage and communicate with members. Our cooperative’s 2021 to 2022 strategic plan has goals around finance, technology, and operations, but the most visible goal is member engagement.
Your board of trustees and TCEC’s leadership team develop the strategic plan every two years with the cooperative’s mission in mind. Our mission is: “TCEC commits to safely power our communities with, innovation, accountability, and integrity — every member, every time.” For employees, our mission means we are dedicated to safety, reliability, and quality service at a good value. For members, our mission means we are local, we are active in our communities, and we are providing excellent service at the lowest cost possible.
We’ve accomplished many of our 2021 to 2022 plan goals and are working to continue that momentum as we move forward into the new year. You will see our employees in your community with the “Watt a Duck” game, where you can pick a duck and answer a co-op trivia question to win a prize. You will see messages encouraging you to enroll in paperless billing for convenience and cost savings. I will be riding around with your trustee in several voting districts to talk to members about their views on the cooperative. We will also invite some members in three districts to participate in informal meals to chat with their trustees and key employees. Finally, we will hold trustee elections in districts 2, 6, and 8, exemplifying the cooperative principle of Democratic Member Control.
Surveying our members is one of the ways we determine whether we are successful in delivering on our mission. You’ll see an article in this issue encouraging you to keep your contact information current. This is so important to receive critical outage information and other news from TCEC. Please provide an email address if you have one and keep your mobile number on file with the cooperative. In late March or early April, a third party will contact members via phone and email to ask a series of questions that will help us serve you better. If you’re one of those members, please take a moment to provide your honest feedback. If you have feedback to help us improve, you don’t have to wait for a survey. Email TCEC or call a member service representative at (580) 652-2418. We’re looking out for you.