August - ctec.coop

CentralTexasEC0814_ 7/11/14 1:48 PM Page 18
Co-op News
CENTRAL TEXAS ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE
Teach Your Children Electrical Safety
MESSAGE FROM CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER ROBERT A. LOTH III
Electricity is a dynamic power source. We live our lives surrounded by it, but sometimes we forget just how dangerous
electricity can be. Many home electrical fires, injuries and
electrocutions can be prevented when we understand and practice electrical
safety. This is especially true for our youngest co-op members.
Throughout the year, Central Texas Electric Cooperative offers many opportunities to help teach youngsters about electricity. But as your children’s first and most
important teacher, perhaps it’s time for you to have a talk with your sons and daughters to reinforce those lessons.
Start at an early age, teaching them about the physical dangers associated with
electrical components and how to handle electrical plugs, outlets, switches and
other devices. Keep in mind that talking to your children about electrical safety
should also include fun activities and facts about the basics—what electricity is, the
need to respect its power and how to use it efficiently as they study, work and play.
As we all know, kids will be kids. Getting them to show interest in some of these
lessons won’t be easy. Just remember that what your children learn from you today
can be a lifesaver later when they are tempted to climb up a utility pole, encounter
potential hazards like downed power lines in their path, or play hide-and-seek
behind those big metal electrical
boxes in the neighborhood.
Gather your youngsters around
the kitchen table or on the front
porch—some of the best teachable
moments about electrical safety can
happen in and around your home.
Look around. There are plenty of
opportunities to demonstrate safety
that are as close as the electrical outlet on your living room wall. For
example, show young children how
plugs work, and let them know that
even if they are curious about the
slits of an electrical outlet, nothing
else should be placed inside.
Each year, about 2,400 children
end up in the emergency room after suffering injuries caused by inserting objects—
paper clips, pens, screws, nails, forks, hairpins, coins and more—into electrical
receptacles. That’s about seven children a day who sustain injuries ranging from
electric shock to burns.
But this isn’t the only electrical mishap that affects youngsters. Our reliance on
electronics and gadgets have left both youngsters and their parents at risk when
they overcrowd electrical outlets, continue to use frayed wires, place devices near
liquids or leave electronics on for long periods of time. Many of the same guidelines
we offer to protect adults can also help protect children. We should all set good
examples for our youngsters.
And as they grow older, remember to keep teaching your kids about the power of
electricity and how to use it safely. Supplement your lessons at home with resources
galore, including those provided on our website, ctec.coop.
18
Texas Co-op Power CENTRAL TEXAS EC August 2014
Three
Director
Nominees
Named
Each year, during two weeks of June,
meetings are held in all of the six voting districts of Central Texas Electric
Cooperative. This year, members will
vote on candidates for the board of
directors from Districts 4, 5 and 6 at
the co-op’s annual meeting in Fredericksburg, Tuesday, August 19, 2014.
Selected as nominees by the
members in their districts were:
W.C. “DUB” STEWART
District 4
Llano County area
CHARLES E. PEARSON
District 5
Gillespie/Blanco County area
JAMES LOW
District 6
San Saba County area
These co-op members were elected
by their peers in person at their district meetings and will be voted on
by the entire CTEC membership at
the annual meeting. CTEC directors
are limited to four consecutive threeyear terms.
Proxy voting is allowed at the
annual meeting, and all members are
encouraged to participate in their
election process. All CTEC members
are allowed to vote for each board
position listed on the ballot, regardless of what district they are in.
See the cover of this issue for
meeting, registration and voting
details
ctec.coop
CentralTexasEC0814_ 7/11/14 1:48 PM Page 19
1-800-900-CTEC (2832) | CTEC.COOP
Central Texas
Electric Cooperative
Fredericksburg (headquarters)
386 Friendship Lane
Fredericksburg, TX 78624
Llano
1410 E. State Hwy. 29, Llano
Kingsland
Nob Hill Subdivision
706 Cottonwood St., Kingsland
Mason
983 N. U.S. Hwy. 87, Mason
Office Hours
8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday-Friday
Website
ctec.coop
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Robert A. Loth III
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Gerald Kaspar, President, Llano County
Riley Kothmann, Vice President, Mason County
W.C. “Dub” Stewart, Secretary, Llano County
Stanley Keese, Treasurer, Llano County
Jack Asbill, Mason County
Doylene Bode, Gillespie County
Rex Brand, Kerr County
Allen Goodwin, Kendall County
James Low, San Saba County
Charles E. Pearson, Gillespie County
William Weldon, Gillespie County
Attend Your
Annual Meeting
ctec.coop
To report electric service interruptions,
please call the Central Texas Electric
Cooperative office in your area at the
numbers listed below:
FREDERICKSBURG AREA
(830) 997-2126
1-800-900-CTEC (2832)
including Gillespie, Kendall, Kerr,
Blanco, Real and Kimble counties
LLANO AND SAN SABA AREAS
(325) 247-4191
THE LAKES AREA
(325) 388-4542
8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
ROM AN SHC HERBA KOV | ISTOC K | TH I NKSTOCK
It’s not every company that invites its customers to an annual meeting to elect
a board of directors that will set policy. But your electric co-op does just that!
When you signed up as a member of Central Texas Electric Cooperative, you automatically became a member and part-owner of this co-op. Co-ops use a business
model that’s different from most other companies. They don’t sell stock on Wall
Street, so there are no profit-seeking investors. Control of a co-op is by members only.
Each member of a co-op is an equal partner in that utility. You may run for a seat
on the board of directors, if you’d like. You may vote for the candidates who do run—
and know that every candidate is also an interested member of the co-op.
So it’s important to attend your co-op’s annual meeting. It’s a place where you
can meet the CEO and staff who run the co-op, and you can get to know the memberdirectors who advise the staff and decide on important policy matters.
It’s also where you can vote for the board of directors and learn what kinds of
business issues concern your co-op.
Membership in a co-op comes with privileges. It also comes with the responsibility to keep on top of co-op matters and cast your vote for the directors you think will
do the best job. We need everyone’s participation. Attend CTEC’s annual meeting in Fredericksburg August 19. If you have other plans and can’t make the
meeting in person, you can still participate by sending in your proxy card on
the cover of this month’s issue by the deadline!
Emergency Contact
(325) 247-4191
after business hours
MASON AREA
(325) 347-6314
including McCulloch, Menard
and Kimble counties
August 2014 CENTRAL TEXAS EC
Texas Co-op Power
19
CentralTexasEC0814_ 7/11/14 1:48 PM Page 20
CENTRAL TEXAS ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE
Central Texas Electric Co-op Board of Directors
GERALD KASPAR
RILEY KOTHMANN
W.C. STEWART
STANLEY KEESE
DISTRICT 4
DISTRICT 3
DISTRICT 4
DISTRICT 4
President
Vice President
Secretary
Treasurer
Self-employed building contractor
and rancher, lives in Kingsland
Retired, lives in Mason
Realtor in Sunrise Beach
Banker/rancher in Llano
ALLEN GOODWIN
REX BRAND
DISTRICT 1
DISTRICT 2
DISTRICT 3
Retired mergers and acquisitions
consultant, lives in Comfort
Retired from USDA,
lives in Mountain Home
Rancher in Art
CHARLES PEARSON
20
DOYLENE BODE
JACK ASBILL
WILLIAM WELDON
JAMES LOW
DISTRICT 5
DISTRICT 5
DISTRICT 5
DISTRICT 6
Real estate investor,
lives in Fredericksburg
Retired from banking, lives in Harper
Retired professor and professional
engineer, lives in Fredericksburg
Retired teacher and rancher
in Cherokee
Texas Co-op Power CENTRAL TEXAS EC August 2014
ctec.coop
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1-800-900-CTEC (2832) | CTEC.COOP
I N C A S E YO U M I S S E D I T …
District Meetings Recap
ctec.coop
Please Use the
Enclosed Envelope
To Return Your
Proxy Card
A postage-paid envelope is provided
to return your proxy card if you do not
plan to attend the annual meeting in
person. It will protect the privacy of
members’ signatures and account numbers, as well as keep their vote private.
You’ll find it inserted between the hard
cover and the regular magazine cover
page of this issue.
It is addressed to the accounting
firm in Lubbock that will tabulate the
votes, so please do not include your
payment or anything else except your
proxy card in this envelope. We encourage you to mail your proxy early. This
is only if you cannot attend the annual
meeting in person. We need the participation of everyone to make a quorum
at the meeting. So please, express your
vote and send it in today. You could win
a $50 bill credit!
Mail in your proxy
card and become
eligible to win one
of 10 $50 bill credits!
August 2014 CENTRAL TEXAS EC
STOCK BYT E
Members of Central Texas Electric Co-op attended six district meetings in
June. Three CTEC members were chosen by their peers in their districts to
be candidates for seats on the board of directors. (See Page 5 of the annual
report for more information on candidates selected.)
At each meeting, members viewed a special video explaining some important
changes at Central Texas Electric Cooperative.
Board President Gerald Kaspar of Llano started the meetings by welcoming all
members attending. “Perhaps the biggest news we have to tell you is we have settled our long-running dispute with the Lower Colorado River Authority concerning
our power supply,” he said. “After a year and a half of legal wrangling, CTEC amicably settled their dispute with LCRA in April of this year.”
Kaspar continued, “So the question probably in your mind now is: ‘How does
this affect me?’ Well, we were able to pay for the settlement with power-cost savings accumulated since September 2012. In addition to paying for the settlement,
the cooperative was also able to reduce the monthly cost of electricity. Leading to
the next question: ‘What does the future look like as far as my monthly electric
bill?’ As a result of prudent decisions and a conservative look at the future, your
co-op and you are in a good place. Realistically, you can expect stable power prices
for the foreseeable future. And, most likely, there will be some reductions in the
cost of purchased power. When is the last time you got news like that? We believe
this is what will happen, and we are going to work hard to make sure it does.”
CEO Robert Loth followed with an explanation of a change CTEC customers will
soon see on their bill. “At Central Texas Electric Cooperative, we like to keep things
simple. Your electric bill is a good example of this philosophy. Currently, there are
three line items on a normal, noncommercial monthly bill: distribution access
charge, distribution energy charge and power cost pass-through. Starting this summer, we will break down the power cost pass-through line item of your electric bill
into power cost pass-through and transmission cost pass-through line items. This
does not reflect an additional cost to you, but simply separates power and transmission charges. The reason we are doing this is to accurately show the actual cost of
each component. We have the ability to influence, to a point, power costs incurred;
we have no ability at all to influence transmission cost. Recently, the Public Utility
Commission [of Texas] increased the amount transmission providers can charge by
almost 40 percent over the previous year, so Texans will pay almost $1 billion more
for transmission delivery.”
Tawnya Boos, special projects coordinator, added that due to recent requests
from CTEC customers, CTEC has launched a mobile app for busy customers wanting access to their co-op account info “on the go.” It’s called SmartHub, and Boos
gave a quick tour of the application, showing highlights on: Notifications—being
able to receive notifications of due dates, past due bills or new billings; Bill and
Pay—making payments using previously saved banking info; and My Usage—where
customers can choose from options to view different usage comparisons.
Kaspar also added, “In less than three weeks, more than 100 members have
signed up to use the new SmartHub app, so if you have a smartphone or a tablet, I
encourage you to give it a try.” Kaspar then ended the meeting by thanking those
present for attending their district meeting because it showed they care about their
cooperative. He also reminded members that the CTEC Annual Meeting is Tuesday,
August 19, in Fredericksburg, and he cordially invited all to attend.
The meetings all concluded with a question-and-answer session with Loth and a
drawing for a few door prizes.
Texas Co-op Power
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CentralTexasEC0814_ 7/11/14 1:48 PM Page 22
CENTRAL TEXAS ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE
Congratulations to Our 2014
MORGAN ADLER
Llano High School
AMBER BELL
Cherokee High School
CASSIE MAE BENEFIELD
Mason High School
BRYAN ZACHARY BLAIR
Kerrville Tivy High School
Daughter of Keith and Lana Adler
Daughter of Billy and Misty Bell
Daughter of David
and Roxanne Benefield
Son of Richard and Pamela Blair
ASHLYN RENEE
BRANDENBERGER
Mason High School
Daughter of John
and D’Lynn Brandenberger
VALERIE LYNETTE BRYANT
Comfort High School
DESTINY CANTU
Fredericksburg High School
ASHLEY DELEON
Comfort High School
ELIJAH LEE DICKINSON
Mason High School
HAILEY ECKERT
Fredericksburg High School
Daughter of John
and Rosa Bryant
Daughter of Jimmy
and Christina Cantu
Daughter of Mark DeLeon
and Marcia Hurst
Son of Larry and Sheila Kemp
Daughter of Brian
and Mary Eckert
BAYLIE ECKHARDT
Fredericksburg High School
MADISON GRUMBLES
Fredericksburg High School
DAVID HARDIN
Fredericksburg High School
ZACHARY HAYDON
Faith Academy of Marble Falls
CAROLINE HUDSON
Mason High School
Daughter of Daniel
and Sheila Eckhardt
Daughter of J.T.
and Robin Grumbles
Son of Brad and Susan Hardin
Son of Russell and Kelly Haydon
Daughter of James
and Natalie Hudson
KAYLA INMON
Harper High School
KAYTLEN JAMES
Fredericksburg High School
ANISSA ELISE KNEESE
Fredericksburg High School
MADISON LANG
Harper High School
JAMES MITCHELL LOCKWOOD
Kerrville Tivy High School
Daughter of Steven
and Kimberly Inmon
Daughter of B. Clay
and S. Michelle James
Daughter of Todd
and Jodie Kneese
Daughter of Carl and Rhesa Lang
Son of Mitchell
and Kerri Lockwood
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Texas Co-op Power CENTRAL TEXAS EC August 2014
ctec.coop
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1-800-900-CTEC (2832) | CTEC.COOP
014 Scholarship Recipients
KEILA LOZANO
Comfort High School
KENDALL GRACE MCKENZIE
Kerrville Tivy High School
LINDSEY E. MILNER
Harper High School
RAENA MONEYHON
Mason High School
MONICA MONTGOMERY
Fredericksburg High School
Daughter of Enrique
and Gloria Lozano
Daughter of Blake
and Beth McKenzie
Daughter of Cynthia Milner
Daughter of Brandon
and Jennifer Moneyhon
Daughter of Erwin
and Amy Montgomery
ALONSO NERI
Comfort High School
PALOMA NOELLE ORTIZ
Faith Academy of Marble Falls
CADE EVAN OTTMERS
Fredericksburg High School
ASHTON PARKEY
Fredericksburg High School
COLE PERKINS
Llano High School
Son of Alonzo and Mari Neri
Daughter of Fermin
and Jennifer Ortiz
Son of Carlton
and Deborah Ottmers
Son of Joe and G’Anna Parkey
Son of Charles
and Rhonda Perkins
MARGARET ‘MAGGIE’ PRUITT
Kerrville Tivy High School
GEORGE LAYTON RABB
Llano High School
TAYLOR REID
Harper High School
AMERICA ROCHA
Cherokee High School
AUSTIN RODRIGUEZ
Fredericksburg High School
Daughter of Chandler
and Margo Pruitt
Son of Russell and Jane Rabb
Daughter of Frank
and Wendi Reid
Daughter of Eddie Nieto
and Lidia Navarrete
Son of Lous and Kelle Rodriguez
SHANNON SMITH
Fredericksburg High School
ELIZABETH TAYLOR
Llano High School
EASTON WEST
Llano High School
SHANNON WIER
Llano High School
HAILEY ANN WILSON
Burnet High School
Daughter of Kenneth
and Tamara Smith
Daughter of Toby Taylor
Son of Joey and Donna West
Daughter of Sheila Wier
Daughter of John
and Leslie Wilson
ctec.coop
August 2014 CENTRAL TEXAS EC
Texas Co-op Power
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