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What’s happening at your Co-op?august 31, 2010 According to Barry Bowman, SECO director of corporate communications, the member-owned electric cooperative is ready to respond to any outages that might be storm related as these hurricanes make their way up the eastern seaboard. SECO serves over 170,000 members and their families in Marion, Lake, Sumter, Citrus, Pasco, Levy and Hernando counties. Bowman said, “Right now it appears that these two storms will have a minor impact on our service territory. However, we’ve seen storm tracks for hurricanes do some very strange things and we will not let our guard down until Earl and Fiona are well clear of Florida. And, we should keep in mind that September can be a very active month for tropical storms and hurricanes.” In light of that fact, he suggested that people visit the SECO Web site at www.secoenergy.com. There they can read SECO’s hurricane guide on-line, as well as view graphics that detail exactly how SECO restores power during major outages, read important information on proper generator use and much, much more. The hurricane guide can also be picked up at any SECO office. In addition, SECO has a specialty website www.secostormcenter.com where members can report outages, check on outage status and get an overall picture on power restoration progress throughout the co-op’s territory. “We’ll be prepared as a utility and now would be a good time for residents to consider what they would do in the event of a major storm and put together a storm plan for their family.” Printable PDF august 23, 2010 SECO Director of Corporate Communications Barry Bowman said, “Any of us who have lived in Florida for any period of time know that storms are simply a part of life here on the peninsula. At SECO we are very proud of the extremely high reliability of our electric system and our quick response when outages do happen to occur. However, many folks in Florida have purchased or are thinking about purchasing some type of generator as added insurance against the potential of outages that might last several days as a result of a major tropical storm, hurricane or tornado.” “The new nine minute video,” continued Bowman, “is a public service for all Florida residents. It discusses how to purchase a generator to fit your needs, how to connect it safely and the hazards associated with operating a generator.” He noted that the video can be seen on the SECO Website www.secoenergy.com and on SECO’s YouTube space, as well as on SECO’s Facebook page. “The content is helpful info for all Floridians and well worth a look. It could also save some lives,” he concluded. SECO, itself, serves over 170,000 member/customers in a 2,000 square mile service territory spanning seven different counties in central Florida. Printable PDF august 20, 2010 Bowman noted that in a recent telephone survey of SECO customers, communication and customer service were cited as major factors in the members giving the co-op one of the highest customer satisfaction scores in the nation. He invited interested members and others to sign up as friends on the SECO Facebook page. He said, “We know what a premium our members place on good communication. Consequently, we are constantly looking for ways to augment the many tools we already utilize to convey information to our customers and others interested in the co-op. So, where social or new media is concerned, a presence on Facebook is a logical step to take.” SECO Energy is a not-for-profit electric cooperative serving over 170,000 members in a 2,000 square mile service territory. SECO customers live in Marion, Lake, Sumter, Citrus, Pasco, Levy and Hernando counties. Printable PDF July 22, 2010 Sumterville, FL – Copper theft is a major crime in the United States. In an effort to enhance training on the types and weights of copper wire for law enforcement the Sumter County Sheriff’s Department contacted SECO because utilities are often the targets of thieves. Detective Michael Callaway of the Criminal Investigations Division worked with SECO to develop a training aid that includes actual samples of all the types of wire used by SECO and most other utilities. This will help law enforcement officers readily identify stolen wire and help control copper theft. Pictured with the new training aid (left to right) are SECO Manager of Supply Chain Services Suzanna Nielsen, Detective Callaway and Detective Michael Bishop. Printable PDF July 13, 2010 Barry Bowman, SECO Director of Corporate Communications, said, “We certainly understand a candidate’s desire to get the word out about their candidacy and we believe strongly in the election process. However, attaching any type of signage, including political signage, to electric utility poles is something we discourage.” “Posting any material on poles can make it difficult, even dangerous, for SECO employees who might have to physically climb the pole to make repairs. Nails and staples left in poles can also cause injury when the poles are retired and cut up for other purposes. And, signage attached to utility poles also has the potential for obstructing the vision of drivers on the road,” stated Bowman. He also pointed out that many municipalities and counties have local ordinances that prohibit the posting of signs on utility poles. “At SECO we are delighted to see such a vigorous campaign season and so many citizens becoming involved in the political process. Let’s just keep it safe by refraining from attaching any type of signage to the Co-op’s electric poles,” he concluded. SECO is a not-for-profit electric cooperative serving over 170,000 customers in Lake, Marion Citrus, Sumter, Pasco, Levy, and Hernando counties. Printable PDF June 29, 2010 Barry Bowman, SECO director of corporate communications, said, “We are always extremely concerned for the safety of our members and our employees. Some simple precautions can help avoid a potential tragedy.” Bowman cited the following advice:
June 16, 2010 According to Barry Bowman, SECO Director of Corporate Communications, “SECO’s professional staff of energy experts can help lower costs with a wide variety of conservation resources and advice for homeowners. SECO also has a special customer education trailer that visits sites around SECO’s service territory putting on energy savings expos. This direct outreach to customers has been very well received and has helped thousands pare down their energy use.” Bowman added that SECO’s energy specialists will be happy to bring the mobile expo trailer to any major business or event where the potential for large crowds exists. The new vidcast can be seen on SECO’s corporate website www.secoenergy.com, on YouTube at www.youtube.com/secoenergy or on Facebook by simply putting Sumter Electric Cooperative in the search box. SECO is a not-for-profit, member-owned electric distribution co-op. It serves 170,000 customers and their families in Marion, Lake, Sumter, Citrus, Pasco, Levy and Hernando counties. June 3, 2010 There is yet another scam being perpetrated against SECO members and customers of other utilities. Here’s how it works. Someone will call saying they are a representative from SECO and telling you that your power is scheduled to be disconnected due to returned payments from the bank. They will then tell you that to avoid disconnect you should give them your checking account or credit card information over the telephone and they will process your payment for you. If you refuse, they will give you an 800 number to call that simply refers you to another 800 number which is an adult chat line. Do not give any financial information to anyone calling you on the telephone. If you have questions about your account you should call SECO directly and we will be happy to assist you. If you have caller I.D. jot the number of the caller down and report it to SECO. These are very clever criminals and in some cases the I.D. may even indicate that the call you are receiving is coming from SECO. That will not be true. And, you certainly do not want to call any 800 numbers these fraudulent scam artists might give you. Printable PDF May 27, 2010 “We want to remind everyone in Central Florida,” said SECO Director of Corporate Communications & Energy Services Barry Bowman, “that there are many dangers associated with severe weather and the key to being safe is to be prepared.” Here are some practical suggestions for inclusion in any home emergency preparations:
Please keep in mind that if you plan to operate a portable generator, keep it outside in a well ventilated area. Carbon monoxide emissions can be harmful. Equally important is that you do not connect the generator directly to your main electrical panel in the home. If installed incorrectly, power from the generator could flow into outside lines and severely injure neighbors or SECO repair crews that believe those power lines are dead. If power is lost, turn off your appliances. This will protect them when power is restored, prevent electrical fires and lessen the chances of a circuit overload when the service comes back on. Leave one light on (preferably the porch light so that you and the repair crews patrolling the area know when your power is back on). If it appears that everyone around you has had their power restored, but you still do not, check your electric panel to see if any of your circuit breakers have tripped. A breaker being tripped during a storm is not an uncommon event. Check this before calling again to report your outage. SECO will be bringing every resource at its disposal to bear to assure power gets restored as quickly and safely as possible to our customers. Our detailed restoration plan details exactly the priority in which power will be brought back on. Essential services such as hospitals, shelters, etc., are the highest priority. Repairs that will bring on large groups of customers are next and then individual electric services are addressed. Bowman noted that SECO is very concerned about the welfare of its customers and has a colorful, eight-page storm guide that is available free of charge at all SECO offices. The storm guide has useful information including what to do if your power should fail, safety tips, a glossary of weather terms you should know, wind speed and pressure effects, critical explanations on all types of severe weather phenomena and much more. The guide can be read on-line at secoenergy.com and additional storm related material can also be found there. The free SECO storm guides can be picked up at Sumter Electric offices in Inverness, Ocala, Sumterville, Eustis and Groveland. SECO also has a specialty Web site that should prove very useful, particularly during storm events, and it can be located at secostormcenter.com. The status of the electric system can be tracked here and outages can be reported on-line. To report outages by telephone, please call 1-800-SECO-141 (1-800-732-6141). SECO, a not-for-profit electric cooperative, serves 170,000 members and their families in Lake, Marion, Citrus, Sumter, Levy, Pasco, and Hernando counties. Printable PDF May 25, 2010 May 21, 2010 Mr. and Mrs. Charles Hook, the property owners where the old oak had been located, were elated at the outcome. They never expected SECO and the FUFC to step in and take a lead role in replacing the tree. SECO spokesperson Barry Bowman, stated “This was a great opportunity to take some positive action and help to return some of the beauty to that area.” In a dedication ceremony on May 19 a new live oak was planted on the Hook property near where the old oak had been. The planting of the tree was a symbol for those live oaks that have been lost throughout Florida. It also commemorated the start up of the “The Grove” which is an interactive web-based community devoted to tree enthusiasts and urban forestry. The Grove is committed to sustaining our green legacy by helping communities grow healthy trees. Their website at www.AmericanGrove.org has great info on how to select, plant and care for a variety of trees and much more. In a joint e-mail to SECO, Mr. and Mrs. Hook and neighbor Alice Eby said, “We would like to thank Sumter Electric Cooperative and the Florida Urban Forestry Council for the wonderful thoughtfulness of replacing our magnificent and stately old oak that graced our C.R. 528 for many years… We will enjoy the shade of our new tree for many years to come. We are extremely grateful.” SECO’s Ken Lacasse remarked, “This was a truly inspiring event and we also hope that many people from SECO’s service territory get involved in The Grove project in the months and years ahead.” Printable PDF SECO Announced 2010 Scholarship Winners
These outstanding seniors were selected by SECO’s Scholarship Committee of independent educators from the application materials submitted by each student. The Committee members come from the Sumter, Lake, Marion, and Citrus county school systems. Scholarship recipients and their families will be honored at a special reception at SECO’s headquarters building in Sumterville at 4:00 p.m. on May 24, 2010. SECO Honored by Arbor Day Foundation In making the announcement of SECO’s award John Rosenow, CEO of the Arbor Day Foundation, said, “Tree Line USA utilities deserve recognition for their commitment to providing safe, efficient electric service while helping to protect and preserve community trees. One of the greatest objectives of the program is replacing the outdated line-clearance practice of topping trees with natural pruning. Natural pruning trains trees to grow around wires and retain more of their natural form. This results in healthier trees and reduced clearance costs for utility companies, since natural pruning has to be done less frequently than topping.” Ken Lacasse, SECO Manager of Integrated Vegetation Management, said, “We are very proud to have received this award for the third year in a row. We try to be environmentally sensitive in many areas here at SECO and our vegetation management program is a prime example of that. Trees enrich our lives. They help reduce peak demand for electricity by conserving energy. And, as Mr. Rosenow has pointed out trees clean the air and water, increase property values and make our homes more comfortable.” The Arbor Day Foundation is a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to tree planting and environmental stewardship. SECO is a not-for-profit utility serving 170,000 members in their families in Marion, Citrus, Sumter, Lake, Levy, Hernando and Pasco counties. Printable PDF Barry Bowman, SECO Director of Corporate Communications, said, “A statistically valid sample of members in Marion, Lake, Citrus and Sumter counties were surveyed. Overall, members continue to think very highly of their cooperative with a mean overall satisfaction rating of 8.92 on a 10-point scale with seven in ten members giving ratings of 9 or 10.” Bowman noted that the co-op scored very highly on having courteous and friendly employees, having accurate and understandable bills, supporting the local community, being environmentally sensitive, minimizing longer outages and restoring power quickly after an outage, keeping members informed, and delivering good value for the money to name a few of the categories. Another measurement which was contained within the survey was a series of questions that compare SECO to other types of companies who seek to rate themselves on the nationally recognized American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). “Again,” said Bowman, “SECO’s ACSI score of 85 was one of the highest in the industry and ranked higher than the average for the nation’s Touchstone Energy co-ops, the ranked investor-owned electric utilities in Florida, and was 11 points above the electric industry average of 72. We also scored higher than PepsiCo, Target Corporation, Nike, Verizon, DirecTV and others who are not in the electric industry.” “We appreciate the input of our members. Their thoughts help us stay on top of what is important to them. For our part, we pledge to continue to provide them with the most reliable and lowest cost electricity possible while not losing sight of the high premium our members place on customer service,” he concluded. Printable PDF The check represents Citrus Public Schools’ share of capital credits distributed to all eligible SECO customers. (Pictured from right) SECO Key Accounts Consultant Brian Gibbs presents the check to Citrus County Schools Superintendent Sandra “Sam” Kimmel. Sharing of excess margins through capital credits is a program unique to not-for-profit electric cooperatives. Printable PDF The check represents Sumter Public Schools’ share of capital credits distributed to all eligible SECO customers. (Pictured from left) SECO Key Accounts Consultant Brian Gibbs presents the check to Citrus County Schools Superintendent Rick Shirley. Sharing of excess margins through capital credits is a program unique to not-for-profit electric cooperatives. Printable PDF
The check represents Marion Public Schools’ shareof capital credits distributed to all eligible SECO customers. (Pictured from left) SECO Key Accounts Consultant Brian Gibbs presents the check to Marion County Schools Superintendent Jim Yancey. Mr. Yancey indicated the check was most welcome and would be put to good use. Printable PDF SECO Installs Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) SECO CEO, Jim Duncan, said, “According to the American Heart Association, 50 percent of the 1,000 North Americans who die from sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) every day have no prior knowledge that they had heart disease. And according to the Occupational Health & Safety Administration, 13 percent of all workplace fatalities result from sudden cardiac arrest. With our new AEDs, we’re sending a clear message to our community: We care about your heart safety and we’re doing something about it.” The only definitive treatment for SCA is a defibrillation shock — an electrical pulse through the heart — to restore a normal heart rhythm. The chance of an SCA victim's survival decreases by seven to ten percent for every minute that passes. Therefore, defibrillation must be administered within the first few minutes of SCA in order to be effective. Dave Marver, president and chief executive officer of Cardiac Science reiterated, “A shock from a readily accessible defibrillator is just about the only way to save an SCA victim. The Cardiac Science AED is really easy to use because it includes easy-to-follow voice instructions to guide rescuers through the process. We hope others are inspired to follow SECO’s lead by protecting people wherever they work, play, or pray.” SECO Director of Communications, Barry Bowman, said, “All of our employees have been trained in the use of these new AEDs and the devices have been placed at strategic locations in all of our buildings for ready use. I know our older customers, in particular, will feel comforted by this initiative because regardless of which office they are visiting there is effective help close at hand should they suffer sudden cardiac arrest.” The American Heart Association and National Center for Health Statistics note that with earlier defibrillation, 40,000 more lives could be saved each year. For more info on the Cardiac Science AEDs contact www.cardiacscience.com. Printable PDF SECO members receive $1.4 million in Capital Credits Over the last fourteen years SECO has given back $16 million to its customers in Lake, Marion, Sumter, Citrus, Pasco, Levy, and Hernando counties. “As a member-owned utility, we continually strive to keep the focus on what is good for our members and the communities in which they live. Being able to share capital credits is unique to the cooperative business model,” he concluded. Printable PDF Page last updated: Tuesday, August 31, 2010 |
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Schools $5,629 
