2019 A YEAR IN THE LIFE
2020 Annual Meeting Video
You use electricity every day…
You rely on dependable energy…
…to know the lights will come on when you flip the switch…
You deserve an electric provider that works hard for you…
There is more to electric service than meets the eye…
A lot more…
A lot that takes place behind the scenes…
Every year has its own unique challenges…
That’s life in Oklahoma…
That’s also life at your electric cooperative…
There are the things you experience…
Then there’s the work the goes into making that experience positive…
We had more than our fair share of storms in 2019. In typical Oklahoma fashion, we experienced tornadoes, floods, and windstorms.
We are happy to report that we made it through all the damage—and hours worked—without anyone getting injured. We are indeed thankful.
We are also grateful for the help received from neighboring cooperatives. We received mutual aid assistance twice in 2019. We were able to reciprocate when we sent a crew to Louisiana to assist with recovery following Hurricane Barry.
Storms and subsequent damage are a good reminder why we have a right-of-way maintenance program. We have committed to improve this program with a comprehensive vegetation management plan. To provide reliable service, we must manage vegetation along approximately 5,000 miles of line.
We have an aging system and we were able to identify priorities for upgrade with the expertise of our engineering group.
Our engineering group made great strides in 2019. They completed a three-year inventory of our entire infrastructure, revamped our mapping system, and incorporated drone technology into our inspection process.
When it comes to the financial stability of your cooperative, we are pleased to report that 2019 was another successful year. We generated more than $2 million in margins for our members’ patronage capital accounts. We finished the year with a clean financial audit and complied with lender guidelines. We saw a net utility plant increase of $2,393,274 and added 458 new services. Add to that 163 service increases, 547 pole changeouts, and more than 11,000 feet of line upgrades.
Our member services representatives fielded more than 83,000 phone calls in 2019. We always want to be able to say that we are here when you need us. Even in the most difficult of times.
Finally, a commitment of which we are especially proud is our dedication to safety. We ended the year with zero days lost due to injury incidents. This is a tremendous accomplishment considering the number of man-hours spent in storm-related recovery work in 2019. This achievement reflects the devotion of our employees to maintaining a safe work environment.
Every year DOES have its own unique challenges. Here at Northeast Oklahoma Electric Cooperative, we are proud of our resilience in the face of challenging circumstances. We will continue as we work hard behind the scenes to keep the lights coming on when you flip the switch.
