The future is bright

Taking pride in our past, while we embrace our future

My favorite holiday is undoubtedly Thanksgiving, and it’s because of memories. When November rolls around, my mind flashes back to spending the holiday as a boy. My parents would load my brothers and me up in our 1970 Monte Carlo and take us to my grandparents’ small farm in southern Ohio.

It was a wonderful day where we visited our aunts, uncles, and cousins. I can recall the smells, the prayers, and the laughter. To this day, I still recall with great fondness watching my grandfather pick up the knife to carve the turkey and then eating my weight in pumpkin pie.

Every November also brings about a family reunion of sorts for the electric cooperatives across the state. Board members and leaders from electric cooperatives across the state come together to reflect on last year as we plan and look forward to the new year. The theme for this year’s annual meeting is “Pride in our Past, Embracing the Future.”

Electric cooperatives have a great story to tell and we are proud of the places we serve and the communities we partner with to improve the quality of life. Electric co-ops started in the 1930s during difficult economic times in our country. The New Deal would bring us the Rural Electrification Administration. Soon after, farmers across Kentucky began to form cooperatives with the mission to bring electricity to the rural areas.

As we look forward to the future, the electric cooperative mission will serve us well. We are committed to providing affordable and reliable service to our members. I believe that the future is bright despite the many challenges that face us. Those challenges include onerous regulations, slow economic growth, and the retirement of many experienced cooperative employees.

This future will be met by our cooperatives with you in mind. The cooperatives are engaged with our political leaders to educate them about the impact of new environmental regulations. We are investing in technologies to make your electric service more reliable. Across the state, our cooperatives are innovators in helping members use energy wisely and become more efficient.

Let me be the first to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving. I hope you get to spend time with family and friends, much the same that I will spend with my cooperative family.