Co-op Currents invites new WEC Directors to talk about the values and experience they bring to the role, how they’ll balance vision and fiscal responsibility, and what drives them to serve fellow members. Profiles do not necessarily represent the values and policy decisions set by WEC’s Board as a whole, but rather the individual perspectives of Board members. In 2025, Bill Powell was elected to his first term.
Getting to know Bill Powell as a member of WEC’s Board of Directors is both familiar and new. After a 33 year career at WEC in a member-facing role, he’s well known to many members. At the same time, the vision and fiscal responsibility of a volunteer, elected Director is a pretty different role from working as a staff member. Powell has long hoped to transfer his skills and experience to the Board after retiring, he said, and doesn’t expect onboarding to be a challenge. “I have a multidisciplinary background. I’ve had a lot of retail exposure to members—I think I have my finger on the pulse. I have a strength in listening. I want to bring that to the Board in my new role there,” he explained. He’s participated in Board proceedings “forever,” he said, “so I think I can get into synch fairly quickly, looking forward to being a positive contributor to the group.”
Powell lives in Calais with his wife Donna Jerry, and enjoys keeping active cycling and playing hockey. He has served on the Central Vermont Solid Waste District board for two decades, and is treasurer of the Maple Corner Community Center, so he’s well versed in Board processes outside WEC’s. His motivation for running for WEC’s Board is pretty simple, he explained. He has a “need to serve,” and he has a specific skill set that benefits the Co-op and its members. He understands regulatory rules and complexities, and long relationships with others in the industry. “That’s what I want to leverage,” he said. “I want to be a good worker bee and deliver effective fiduciary responsibilities as and when needed.”
He doesn’t have a platform, Powell emphasized. Rather than suggesting the Co-op should move in one particular direction or another, or even using his role to raise specific issues, Powell sees his Board role as more of a well of institutional knowledge about WEC’s system, Vermont’s electrical grid and regulations, and federal processes. He can summon up that expertise to help the Board illuminate the background, complexities, and likely consequences of the decisions it faces. That’s not to say he’ll withhold his opinion about topics, but he doesn’t expect to substantially shift the direction of the Board. “To me there are nine people [on the Board] who have equal value in their role. The view of Powell is not necessarily what the group may come to,” he noted.
One topic Powell is particularly interested in discussing is affordability. “One of the more pressing regulatory obligations is to protect your income eligible members,” he said. Affordability is a corner of WEC’s mission, and concern about affordability in an economically uncertain era is appropriate, he said, but “I in no way would advocate that utilities should be on their own subsidizing income eligible consumption of electric service. I think that’s a statewide need and needs to be done on a statewide basis,” and should probably be regulated through the tax department instead of the Public Utility Commission, he added.
He’s speculating as to what shape the conversation might take, Powell pointed out, but he knows that keeping rates affordable, and what if any role an individual utility has to subsidize its income eligible members, is a topic of great interest to WEC’s membership.
He’s looking forward to putting his knowledge and experience to work on the Board. “I want to reiterate to the membership my gratitude for picking me,” he concluded. “And I accept the responsibility that the vote brings with it.”