2015 CEO Report
Dear Member Owners of Cordova Electric Cooperative:
It has been a strong year for CEC both financially and operationally. We did not borrow money this year, and paid down $833,503 in existing debt for a new total debt of $15,602.755. This has increased the members’ ownership share of CEC to 49.46% Equity. We budgeted a margin of $614,074 and our unaudited margin is $895,797. More importantly, we generated an unaudited positive cash flow of $334,692 for a cash balance of $1,617,067.
Operationally, we had the highest percentage of hydro production since 2005 at 72.72% and produced over 21,000,000 kWh of hydro for the first time breaking several all-time monthly hydro records, while 2015 fuel prices were down an average of $1.1429/gallon, resulting in lower electric bills than 2014, especially during winter months. Outages were well below average at 1.05 hours/customer from all causes including scheduled, with no system-wide outages during the fishing season. There were no lost time work accidents by CEC employees, resulting in lower insurance rates and substantial rebates due to CEC employees’ focus on protecting their personal safety and that of the general public.
In fall and winter of 2015-16 I gave two presentations at the community lecture series program hosted by the Prince William Sound Science Center (PWSSC), one on solar energy in Cordova and one on the Crater Lake Water and Power Project overview. These presentations are available on the PWSSC website at: http://pwssc.org/educate/community-2/lecture-series/ or on their YouTube channel.
The Crater Lake feasibility study was completed this January, and is available on both the City of Cordova’s website, and our website.
Other exciting events during the year included CoBank’s selection of CEC as their Corporate Sustainability Customer of the Year, a $10,000 grant funded 50% by CoBank and 50% by CEC to perform electrical upgrades to the Red Dragon/St. George Episcopal Church through CEC/CoBank’s “Sharing the Success” program, and selection by the Department of Energy as an evaluation/implementation site for advanced energy storage technologies in partnership with Sandia National Laboratories, The Alaska Center for Energy and Power, and CEC. The Sharing the Success program will run for at least two more years, and provides a one-time grant to a single Cordova 501C3 not for profit of up to $10,000 and the applications will be advertised this summer.
The faces of CEC continue to change. In March of 2015, Sean Groom was hired as the new Power Production Manager, while in January of 2016, both Roy Srb, Journeyman Lineman, and Andy Gentry, Engineering and Operations Manager, retired after 36 years and 8 years of service, respectively. The Board of Directors welcomed back David Little and Scott Pegau to the Board, and new Director Cully Wooden at the March election, and Alexis Cooper by appointment in July replacing Director Tim Joyce. We have talented and committed employees and Board Directors.
Our theme for this year’s Annual Meeting is “Hydro, Cordova’s Renewable Energy Resource”. Through the warm, wet winters of 2014 and 2015, we have enjoyed lower winter electric bills due to good hydropower production. This gives us a taste of what electric bills could be like with more winter hydro capacity. Stored hydro would provide more winter power production, and also a way to improve the feasibility of wind, solar, and tidal options.
The Annual Meeting will again be webcast and tightly planned to last 90 minutes or less. It will feature energy saving or useful electrical devices for members in attendance in addition to a dinner and door prizes. I encourage you to attend the meeting in person to consider Bylaws changes, elect your new Board Members, hear the reports of the activities and goals of the Cooperative with your elected Board and their staff, and communicate any concerns or expectations you have of your cooperative.
Respectfully, Clay Koplin, CEO