By Louis Porter Washington Electric Cooperative is small: about 40 people working together to provide renewable electricity to 12,000 members. But despite our size and the mission we share, it’s all too rare that we work together in the same place. Member service representatives and others who work in the office talk to those who work in the field by telephone, radio, or through email
October 29, 2026
Updates on Several Grant-Funded Projects Designed to Lower Members’ Bills WEC’s first mandate is to provide electric power safely and reliably — and as affordably as possible. Affordability has always been a challenge in a forested, mountainous region with an average of only eight customers per mile of line — so much so that almost 90 years ago, when electric lines were getting connected across
October 29, 2026
Ballots Will Arrive By Mail; Members Can Vote Digitally, By Mail, and In Person For the first time in the Co-op’s nearly 86 years, WEC members will be able to vote digitally for Board of Directors candidates. Members will receive ballots in the mail from Survey and Ballot Systems, or SBS, the Minnesota-based firm providing voting services to the Co-op. These ballots will arrive separately
October 29, 2026
Good Planning Helps Insulate WEC Bills from Sector-Wide Rising Costs By Brian Callnan 2026 has been an active year for utilities requesting rate increases. Through September, nine of Vermont’s 17 distribution utilities have implemented rate increases. But WEC has kept your rates flat since January of 2025, when an increase of 2.9% was implemented. We’ve been able to do this even though WEC’s service territory
October 29, 2026
Advocating for Policies That Align With Cooperative Values, Addressing Potential Impacts of AI, Preparing for an El Niño Winter President and General Manager’s Message, October-November 2026 I hope to see rooftop solar evolve as a more mature technology in our territory to be a more controlled and balanced resource for utility ratepayers. It’s time for regulators and legislators to catch up with an acceptable plan
October 29, 2026
3:00 pm WEC crews, working despite the weather, have replaced the damaged equipment in the Danville substation and restored power to members who were out of service. lines 2:15 pm WEC crews have discovered failed equipment in WEC’s Danville Substation and are working on replacing it now. We anticipate that service in the Peacham/Danville area will be restored within three hours, barriding additonal complications. Remember:
October 13, 2026
6:25 pm All members have been restored, and the winds have calmed down hopefully for the entire evening. Thank you to our crews for their hard work and dedication to you all. We also thank you for your patience. Remember: if you see lines down, do not touch or approach them. They could still be energized. Please report any downed wires or trees by calling WEC
September 10, 2026
1:32 pm WEC crews have restored power to all members from the East Montpelier accident. Thank you for your patience. Remember: if you see lines down, do not touch or approach them. They could still be energized. Please report any downed wires or trees by calling WEC immediately at 1-802-223-5245 or 1-800-932-5245. 10 am WEC crews have restored power to all but about 115 members by switching how some
September 9, 2026
Electrical safety tips from Safety and Environmental Compliance Specialist David Young October-November 2026: Avoiding Hazardous Plants and Insects WEC members know that when there’s an outage, our line crews endure long hours and nasty weather while they work to repair lines and restore power. But they endure all kinds of other hazards doing routine linework, too. Some natural hazards, like poisonous plants and disease-transmitting insects,
September 3, 2026
Helping Dads See Their Value: Vermont Fatherhood WEC Community Fund Supports Barre-Based Nonprofit that Strengthens Families I knew what I’d done in the past was good for dads. This has been next-level. I’m trying to build a model in Barre that will be effective in other places. –Josh Miller “What I’ve learned in my years working with parents is, guys just don’t realize how important
September 2, 2026
By Brian Callnan Peak energy demands have been getting pushed to the nighttime. March through June of 2026 all had peak energy use between 9 and 10 PM, well after the sun had set. What is a Duck Curve and Why Are We Talking About It? I’m not sure who first came up with the name “Duck Curve,” but it seems to fit (if you
September 2, 2026
Batteries and Meters; Wrightsville and Coventry: Co-op Infrastructure Updates Co-op Plans Ahead for Electronic Voting In Time for 2027 Board Election The goal of our first foray is to achieve cost savings by peak shaving, but as batteries continue to get cheaper and different battery chemistries become commercially available, the economical uses for this technology abound, particularly in reducing the traditional need of fossil fuel
September 2, 2026
Power has been restored to the Vershire area. Outage was caused by a tree. Remember: if you see lines down, do not touch or approach them. They could still be energized. Please report any downed wires or trees by calling WEC immediately at 1-802-223-5245 or 1-800-932-5245. Outage – Tuesday– 8/3/26 – 10:20 a.m. There is an outage affecting about 220 WEC members in the Vershire area currently. Crews are
August 3, 2026
Tuesday– 7/28/26 – 6:45 pm Crews have restored power in WEC territory. Thank you to the crews and dispatch for their continued efforts to restore all members during these summer storms. Remember: if you see lines down, do not touch or approach them. They could still be energized. Please report any downed wires or trees by calling WEC immediately at 1-802-223-5245 or 1-800-932-5245. Louis Porter July 21, 2026 Tuesday– 7/28/26
July 28, 2026
Tuesday– 7/21/26 – 2:45 pm Crews have restored power in WEC territory. Remember: if you see lines down, do not touch or approach them. They could still be energized. Please report any downed wires or trees by calling WEC immediately at 1-802-223-5245 or 1-800-932-5245. Tuesday– 7/21/26 – 2:15 pm WEC crews have discovered the cause of the large outage in East Montpelier and Plainfield. A tree came down on
July 21, 2026
Thursday – 7/16/26 – 8:51 pm All outages have been restored. Our thanks to our line crew, dispatchers, member service representatives and all others who have helped with this outage. Remember: if you see lines down, do not touch or approach them. They could still be energized. Please report any downed wires or trees by calling WEC immediately at 1-802-223-5245 or 1-800-932-5245. Thursday – 7/16/26 – 6:22 pm WEC
July 16, 2026
Wednesday – 7-15-26 – 2:45pm The large outage in the East Montpelier area has been restored. Due to the high winds smaller outages continue to occur. Please continue to be prepared for unexpected outages. Thanks to WEC line crews, dispatchers and member services for their continuous hard work during these summer outages. There are still close to 1000 people without power in the southern part
July 15, 2026
Thursday 7/2/26 – 4:00 pm All members have been restored to service, Thanks to WEC line crews, dispatchers and member services for their hard work during this overnight outage. About 45 Vermonters remain out of service around the state. Remember: if you see lines down, do not touch or approach them. They could still be energized. Please report any downed wires or trees by calling WEC
July 2, 2026
Thursday 6/18/26 – 9:45 pm All members have been restored to service, Thanks to WEC line crews, member services representatives and dispatchers for their hard work during todays outage. About 3,200 Vermonters remain out of service around the state. Remember: if you see lines down, do not touch or approach them. They could still be energized. Please report any downed wires or trees by calling WEC
June 18, 2026
Friday, June 6, 2026 – 11:30pm Crews have restored power to all members. Thank you for your patience as we did this important work. Remember: if you see lines down, do not touch or approach them. They could still be energized. Please report any downed wires or trees by calling WEC immediately at 1-802-223-5245 or 1-800-932-5245. Friday, June 6, 2026 – 9:00am WEC is experiencing issues with the Maple
June 5, 2026