Members Gather for First In-Person Annual Meeting in 3 Years

For more than 80 years, members of Concho Valley Electric Cooperative have looked forward to the fellowship at the co-op’s mid-July annual meeting. Spirits were high July 21, when Concho Valley EC members and employees returned to their first traditional in-person meeting since 2019.

Members and their guests filled the Foster Communications Coliseum in San Angelo to enjoy a communal meal, to catch up with old friends and to hear about the business of the cooperative— and for a chance to win some prizes.

“It’s great to see such a big crowd here today to welcome in the live meetings again,” said Scott Frost, CVEC’s attorney, to the more than 800 in attendance. “It’s been a long time, and I know that you have missed it and the co-op employees have missed it.”

In a return to form, attendees were treated to a complimentary barbecue meal and ate together at long tables that filled the arena floor, and more than 50 lucky members won door prizes, some of which were donated by Texas Electric Cooperatives, Golden Spread Electric Cooperative, SGS Engineering, Pole Inspection of West Texas, Logo Store USA and Anixter.

The election of directors was also held. Incumbent directors Jeff Copeland, Area 3, and Will Wiggins, Area 5A, ran unopposed and were reelected by acclamation.

Despite the meeting’s return to normalcy, many aspects of the preceding year were far from normal, a subject Kelly Lankford, CEO and executive vice president, addressed in detail in a recorded video message, starting with the winter storm that plunged Texas into an unprecedented deep freeze in February 2021. The sustained subfreezing temperatures pushed the state’s electric grid to the brink, prompting the Electric Reliability Council of Texas to order rolling outages.

“Fortunately, we had the systems in place and were able to manage these state-mandated outages,” Lankford said. “Unfortunately, there was a financial cost associated with [the storm].”

CVEC’s costs to its generation and transmission provider, Golden Spread EC, were severe, he said, but not catastrophic like they were for other electric utilities in Texas.

“Your cooperative was able to finance those costs long-term to minimize the impact on members’ monthly bills,” Lankford said. “On a home that uses an average of 2,000 kilowatt-hours per month, the increase is about $8 per month for the next four years. In comparison, thousands of customers and cooperative members in East Texas will be paying over $30 a month for the next three decades.”

Lankford also answered a question on the top of many people’s minds: Why has the cost of electricity risen over the past several months?

“The answer is simple,” he said. “The cost of natural gas is over three times higher than it was this time last year, and natural gas is used to generate the majority of electricity in the state of Texas.” That’s combined with price increases in equipment and materials and longer lead times due to supply chain issues. But the good news, he said, is that similar upticks in the past settled back to normal, and the co-op’s leaders expect prices to do so again.

“We survived then, and we will survive now,” Lankford said. “One thing you can be sure of is we are doing everything we can to keep your lights on at the lowest possible cost.”

While tackling the unforeseen challenges that 2021 presented, CVEC carried on with its core duty to keep electricity flowing—and then some.

“In spite of a pandemic, in spite of high natural gas prices and in spite of material shortages, your electric cooperative continues to grow at a healthy rate,” said board President Jeff Copeland in his video message.

The co-op continued improvements and modernization of its electrical distribution system, upgrading substations in the Veribest, Mertzon, Orient and Grape Creek areas and building a new substation in the Buffalo Heights area.

Lankford reminded members that CVEC serves as their trusted energy adviser, and employees are at the ready to help them make informed decisions about their energy needs— especially when it comes to solar energy. He encouraged members to reach out to the co-op’s engineering department if they’re thinking about installing a solar array. And for those who are interested in renewable energy but hesitant about the long-term commitment of installing solar power for their home, he suggested CVEC’s community solar farm, the Agnes Project.

In 2021 the co-op also embarked on a broadband internet pilot project in the Buffalo Heights subdivision, northwest of San Angelo.

“Some of our members live in the most underserved areas for high-speed internet in Texas,” Copeland said. “The pilot is well underway, and we expect to have over 400 members connected by the end of 2022.”

Seeing the success of the pilot, the CVEC board and staff decided to expand the project with the goal of eventually serving the co-op’s entire membership.

And the co-op accomplished all of this while maintaining excellent financial health, as board Secretary-Treasurer Tom Carter explained in his video report. In 2021, CVEC had total assets of $125 million, $59.3 million of which represents members’ equity. Revenues for the year were $44.4 million, and total expenses were $40.1 million, with purchased power as the largest expense at $24.5 million. Year-end margins were $4.26 million, all of which was allocated to members as capital credits.

As an electric cooperative, CVEC is a not-for-profit organization. That means when financial conditions allow, it can return capital credits to its members—a central component of Cooperative Principle No. 3, Members’ Economic Participation. This year the co-op returned $1.8 million in capital credits. As a cooperative, CVEC is more than the wires and poles that power members’ homes and businesses; it’s also dedicated to bolstering the communities where its members and employees live and work.

As part of those efforts, the co-op awards scholarships every year to college-bound members and children of members and sponsors high school students on the Government-in-Action Youth Tour, a weeklong trip to Austin and Washington, D.C., where participants join more than 100 other Texas teens to visit museums and memorials, learn more about electric cooperatives, and meet with their congressional representatives.

“I made so many friends,” said Luke Hoelsher, one of CVEC’s four Youth Tour delegates, in a video message to annual meeting attendees. “We have a group chat with 124 people on it, and they’re not lying when they say you have another family. It’s 124 extra family members all across the state of Texas, and it’s amazing.”

Phoenix Parks, another CVEC delegate, was equally awed by the experience. “I would like to thank the members of Concho Valley Electric Co-op for allowing me to go on this trip,” he said. “It was the trip of a lifetime.”

CVEC is committed to the cooperative principle of Concern for Community, and employees wouldn’t miss an opportunity to lend a helping hand—just as they did after the annual meeting, when they donated leftover food from the massive buffet to four local organizations: the Alcohol & Drug Abuse Council for the Concho Valley, Meals for the Elderly, Hopper House and Fresh Start.

Whether they’re in the field building and repairing lines, in the office responding to members’ questions or in the community meeting members’ needs, CVEC employees’ commitment to their work is not lost on Lankford.

“Since 1940, Concho Valley Electric Cooperative has been providing reliable and affordable electricity to our members,” he said in his closing remarks. “From the beginning, the heart and soul of your cooperative has been the men and women who work for you. They are a dedicated, hardworking group that is proud to serve you.”