Why this was WEC’s most expensive storm ever, and what’s next 40 broken poles, $900,000+ in damages. How WEC plans to respond to members’ needs for the next one Storm recap Steve: As a WEC member and Board member, I want to start by expressing my appreciation for the efforts of all WEC employees in restoring power during this outage. …
Special: Winter Storm Elliott coverage and letter to members from GM Louis Porter
Dear Fellow Members of Washington Electric Cooperative, I want to thank you for your patience during the recent outage, for caring for your neighbors, and for the encouragement and kindness you showed WEC staff. WEC has recovered from experiencing one of its most destructive storms in recent history. At the start of our restoration efforts, 5,700 members were without power …
Concern for community: WEC maintains winter holiday and relief programs during an expensive winter
In 2022, inflation and high fuel costs combine to pose another challenging winter. Households are aware their dollars don’t cover as much. Just as worrying, the nonprofit programs that help people access basic needs – like food shelves and pantries – are finding donations are down, and their buying power is eroded. “From a service delivery standpoint, our first principles …
President’s & General Manager’s Message
Evolution and alignment More on net metering; updates on rate increase, supply chain, and changes to incentive program Time to evolve net metering Steve: We continue to hear from our members in response to our net metering theme issue (September 2022). It’s worth reminding our members that we are not faulting those homeowners who have already chosen to net meter, …
High winds, heavy snow: Be prepared for winter storms
“We live in a territory that has a lot of severe winter storms, and we have a lot of trees. Some of those trees come down on power lines,” said General Manager Louis Porter. Already, high winds have caused outages. Because of the rural, heavily forested nature of WEC’s territory – and all those north-south mountain ranges that create natural …
Together again
Co-op gathers members together for a cookout, connections, and engineering demonstration on a sunny September day Preview in new tab September 10 was hot and sunny. But with almost 150 members expected for lunch, the grills were busy at WEC’s Operations Center, cooking burgers and chicken from local farms. Typically, WEC hosts the Annual Meeting of the membership in early …
Context for WEC’s rate increase filing
By Louis Porter Washington Electric Cooperative has filed for a 14.19% increase in its rates. The need for this increase is driven by several factors, but the primary ones are a decline in production at the Coventry landfill gas-to-electricity plant and high and volatile prices in the New England energy market that are occurring at the same time. The result …
President’s & GM’s Message: Reckoning cooperative values with market-based incentive systems in our collective shift away from fossil fuels
Rate case, response to net metering issue, new CVFiber column, Coventry update, member cookout Co-op Month: Reckoning individual incentives with cooperative values Steve: October is Co-op Month. When I joined Washington Electric’s Board of Directors and was figuring out my responsibilities, a wise Board member told me, whatever decision we make should be made on the basis of what is …
WEC to File Request for Rate Increase
Multiple factors cause the Co-op to need to raise rates by more than 10 percent By Louis Porter WEC is planning to file a request for a significant rate increase with state regulators this month, due to a decline in production from the Coventry plant as work has taken place on the Casella landfill, very high and volatile electricity prices …
Net Metering’s Effects on Washington Electric Co-op
By the Board and General Manager of Washington Electric Co-op As the most expensive form of renewable power in the state, net metering raises the cost of electricity to Vermonters who do not own such systems while it lowers the costs for those who do. The members of Washington Electric Cooperative have a long history of supporting renewable energy. The …