Co-op Month: Cooperatives Are All Around

Coop CurrentsCoop News

Avram Patt grew up with the cooperative model. The former general manager of WEC, current member, and state representative spent his youth in the Bronx, in a home surrounded by the Amalgamated Housing Cooperative: a nearly hundred year old housing co-op funded by a union, the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, to be affordable housing for workers. Patt’s father, a …

Safety Minute: Vehicle Accidents

Coop CurrentsCoop News

Electrical safety tips from Safety and Environmental Compliance Specialist David Young Mistakes can happen to anyone. On September 12, just after noon, a vehicle accident created a widespread outage. A longtime grain delivery driver, making a regular delivery to a farm and who had done this routine countless times, became distracted. He moved the grain delivery truck without lowering the …

Blinks on the System – 10/21/23

Louis PorterOutages

Saturday, October 21, 2003 WEC members served by the East Montpelier and Maple Corners substations experienced brief outages or blinks on the system this evening. The cause was an issue on the transmission lines which provide power to the WEC system. WEC crews responded, but GMP had already corrected the issue and power was quickly restored to all WEC members. …

Outage – 9/12/2023

WECOutages

Tuesday, September 12, 2023 All outages have ben restored. Thank you for your patience. Tuesday, September 12, 2023 WEC is experiencing a significant outage in Calais, East Montpelier, Worcester and Middlesex after a grain delivery truck drove into WEC transmission line near our East Montpelier Substation. One pole on the transmission line is broken and must be replaced and another …

Place-based Education for Everybody

Coop CurrentsCoop News

WEC’s Community Fund supports a gazillion years of Naturalist Journeys at North Branch Nature Center in Montpelier For as long as anyone at North Branch Nature Center can remember, Washington Electric Co-op has sponsored the popular Naturalist Journeys program through regular donations from the member-supported Community Fund. “Thank you for the gazillion years of support. I think that’s the accurate …

Historic Floods in Central Vermont; WEC Offers Community Fund Flood Response Grants

Coop CurrentsCoop News

On July 9, towering purple and black thunderheads sat over Central Vermont, crackling with lightning and dumping hard rain. The next day, July 10, prolonged, torrential rain caused the worst flooding Vermont has seen since Tropical Storm Irene, and in many areas, since 1927. The next day, July 11, state officials watched Wrightsville Dam with concern as water rose within …

President’s & GM’s Message: WEC infrastructure tolerates catastrophic flooding; excess solar threatens substation

Coop CurrentsCoop News

Regulators’ order requiring a income-qualified reduction system calls into question Co-op’s ability to self-govern WEC’s flood response, outages Louis: Our poles and wires were not too badly affected by the initial storm on July 10 that caused catastrophic statewide flooding. We had about 1,100 members out. We did, however, have a pretty major outage the following Thursday and Friday, July …

Co-op Seeks Former Members for Capital Credit Refunds 

Coop CurrentsCoop News

WEC has returned almost $10 million to members since 1998 When your electric cooperative takes in more money than it costs to run the utility, where does that money go? Have you ever noticed a credit on your November electric bill? As a member of an electric cooperative, excess revenue is returned to you and your fellow member-owners. That is …

Safety Minute: Preventing Electrical Hazards in a Wet Basement 

Coop CurrentsCoop News

Electrical safety tips from Safety and Environmental Compliance Specialist David Young The July floods inundated many Vermont basements with feet of water and mud. Even when there’s not historic flooding, many basements tend to get damp or wet during rainy seasons and the spring thaw. The problem is, basements flood, and electrical panels and electrical equipment are often stored in …

Ask the Energy Coach: Is there an industry standard for EV charging connectors?

Coop CurrentsCoop News

Dear Energy Coach: I am buying an EV, and I want to know where I can charge it. Can I charge a non-Tesla at a Tesla charging station now? Why isn’t there an industry standard for this stuff? Let’s start now and then look to the future. Yes: an industry standard is emerging, and it looks like it’s the North …