QUICK TIPS FROM YOUR CO-OP:
It’s been 83 great years of being your electric cooperative, where locals are looking out for you. The value of your membership has never been greater. I’d like to personally invite you and your family to one of our three days of convenient drive-thru annual meetings this year to register and vote. We’ll even have hot dogs again in York! You can count on the same smiling faces to be there to help you through the line.
Our team is excited to see you and your family to celebrate 83 years of service, community and improving quality of life in our area. As for me, this will be a bittersweet annual meeting as it will mark my 34th serving you and my last before my retirement in June. I invite you to tune into our virtual business meeting as we officially introduce Craig Spencer, who will continue to lead our team of locals looking out for you.
YEC will celebrate 83 years of service to the members of York Electric Cooperative by hosting their annual meeting of members on Wednesday, May 1 in Tega Cay at Catawba Park located at 2351 New Gray Rock Rd., and on Friday, May 3 and Saturday, May 4 at YEC’s main office, located at 1385 East Alexander Love Highway in York. Because of a record number of participants, increased efficiency and the results of the meeting preferences question we asked attendees last year, the meeting will be drive-thru only again this year.
Registration and voting for the annual meeting will be open on Wednesday, May 1 in Tega Cay from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m., on Friday, May 3 from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m., and on Saturday, May 4, from 9 a.m. until noon. Each membership must choose one of the three available locations to attend for registration and voting and each membership is eligible for only one registration, vote and entry for prize drawings. We will host a virtual business meeting that will stream online at yorkelectric.net and on our Facebook account. A transcript of the virtual meeting will be available on our website for the hearing impaired.
Action will be taken on the following matters during the meeting:
Members are encouraged to attend the annual meeting and MUST bring a valid photo ID and their registration postcard, which is attached to the front of this magazine. All members who wish to be entered into the prize drawing and to vote must be in line by 2 p.m. on Wednesday, 7 p.m. on Friday and by noon on Saturday.
Each member registering will receive a $25 credit on his or her June 2024 electric bill and is limited to one vote and registration. You must be present to vote and receive the registration credit. Registered members will also be entered into drawings for valuable prizes including a 2017 Ford F-150 and two $500 power bill credits. Members who register in Tega Cay will be entered into a separate drawing for a $500 power bill credit in addition to the other door prizes.
Your cooperative’s audited financial report will be available during the week of the annual meeting on our website, at each of YEC’s offices, and by request at the annual meeting.
You will find a map for the voting and registration drive-thru routes for both our Tega Cay and York locations on the back of the April edition of South Carolina Living magazine and on our website. Members will be voting for two uncontested director seats, the vacant seat in District Two and a contested seat for District Three.
We would like to extend a special thank you to York School District One, the York School District One Foundation, and the York Rotary Club for preparing hot dogs for those members who want them on Friday and Saturday in York beginning at 9 a.m. each day, while supplies last. For more details about the annual meeting, please contact our member services team at (803) 684-4248.
I look forward to seeing you and your family as we celebrate another year of serving you!
In March, your York Electric Cooperative Board of Trustees unanimously appointed Craig Spencer as the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Upon this announcement, he began serving as Chief Operating Officer (COO), a role he will fulfill until the current CEO, Paul Basha, retires after 34 years of service to YEC on June 11.
Spencer joined York Electric in 1992. Since 2003, he has served as the Vice President of Engineering, and he has played an integral role in the cooperative’s expansion and success. With more than 30 years of experience in the utility industry at York Electric, Spencer offers a well-rounded understanding of the cooperative’s operations, culture and member needs.
If you get nervous when your vehicle’s gas light comes on, you know how the leaders of South Carolina’s electric cooperatives feel about our state’s looming energy crisis.
If only it were as easy to refuel our supply of electricity as it is to pull into a gas station.
Unfortunately, hundreds of thousands of people in South Carolina and North Carolina felt like they were stranded on the side of the road on Christmas Eve 2022.
Several days of freezing temperatures drove the demand for electricity to record highs, and our state didn’t have enough power to meet that demand.
Major utilities were forced to undergo rolling blackouts — the widespread outages you usually only hear about in faraway places like California.
We were lucky: Our co-op members didn’t have their power cut off. But our needle was as close to E as it could go. And the risk of running empty again remains.
The North America Electric Reliability Corporation, an independent organization that monitors the reliability of our power grid, recently warned of the growing risk that we could run out of power when demand spikes due to extreme weather.
Co-op leaders across our state know these threats to reliability are unacceptable. It’s our duty to keep the lights on for 2 million South Carolinians.
We can’t ask them to suffer through scorching days or freezing nights without power. And we can’t afford to miss out on game-changing economic development projects because our state didn’t plan ahead for its energy future.
How have we reached this point? Demand for electricity is soaring because of South Carolina’s rapid population growth and our success in recruiting new industry.
Unfortunately, South Carolina hasn’t succeeded in building new, large-scale power plants to keep up. The cancellation of the V.C. Summer nuclear expansion project has left us even further behind.
To make matters worse, proposed federal regulations could require the shutdown of existing power plants before we can adequately replace them.
What can we do to solve this problem? We must upgrade our power grid by building new power plants, pipelines and transmission lines.
We must invest in a diverse mix of natural gas, nuclear, solar, hydro, batteries and other emerging energy sources to ensure a stable power supply while protecting our environment.
We must streamline burdensome permitting processes and untangle supply chain bottlenecks that hold these projects hostage for years and years.
What actions are we taking? We have sounded the alarm about these challenges in Columbia and in Washington. Policymakers have heard us and are taking steps to help.
For the past 18 months, S.C. lawmakers have listened to energy experts and utility critics alike in order to craft a bill, H.5118, that will ensure South Carolinians have access to reliable, affordable energy.
Importantly, the bill paves the way for Dominion Energy and Santee Cooper to jointly build a natural gas plant in Colleton County that we believe is sorely needed.
This plant will supply always-available energy to homes and businesses across our state. It will also back up the thousands of megawatts of sometimes-available solar energy that is coming onto the power grid.
Critics of H.5118 have had plenty to say in the past few weeks. That’s OK. It’s how the process should work. State lawmakers are revising the bill to address most of those concerns.
But as we search for a way to address South Carolina’s looming power shortage, we worry this is increasingly becoming a debate between those who are proposing a real solution and those who only want to criticize, obstruct and delay.
South Carolina cannot afford to experiment with an unrealistic Green New Deal approach to energy in our state. We do not have the luxury of waiting.
We must modernize our grid to meet the demands of tomorrow.
We are running on fumes. If we fail to act, we could soon be left stranded. Contact your legislators and let them know you support H.5118 because our state needs real energy solutions now.
By Paul Basha
We make it our business to know when new technologies that use electricity enter our market. While electric vehicles (EVs) aren’t new, we have seen an increase in the number of members purchasing these cars. As your trusted energy advisor, we’ve done our part to be prepared to answer your questions about EVs and provide you with the facts.
From adding two EVs to our fleet, surveying and listening to our members who plan to use this type of new technology, studying charging patterns and gaining an understanding of what impacts EVs might have on our distribution system, we have learned alongside all of you.
To continue our learning process, we’re using the Optiwatt application to gain more insight on the charging habits of members while incentivizing you to share your information. Here are the incentive details:
Our board also recently passed a special rate that provides an incentive to businesses who choose to add a charging station at their location to either power the use of their fleet, vehicles from patrons or their employees. You can learn more about this rate on our website.
Not interested in electric vehicles? We understand and are still here to provide you with the guidance you need to help make the best energy choices for you and your family. We’re still dedicated to providing you with reliable, safe and affordable energy and looking out for you, no matter what you drive.
Coffee with the CEO
Coffee with the CEO
Wednesday, April 15 8:30–9:30 a.m.
Knowledge Perk
130 W. White Street, Rock Hill
At York Electric, member empowerment is one of our favorite activities. As a local company committed to our community, we strive to create opportunities for our members, like you, to engage with our leadership and employees.
Our leadership team, including CEO Paul Basha and other York Electric staff, invite our membership to join us for Coffee with the CEO. We value members’ perspectives and opinions and welcome any questions you may have about your cooperative.
This private event is not only a chance to meet with our employees but learn about the latest co-op news, including our upcoming annual meeting, our newest energy service programs and ongoing community outreach programs.
REGISTER ONLINE
Sign up today at yorkelectric.net/coffee to attend Coffee with the CEO. Using our online registration form, you and your family can submit questions ahead of the event. YEC staff will review these inquiries beforehand to best answer your questions.
As consumer demand for electric vehicles (EVs) increases, York Electric Cooperative has been installing public charging stations at several locations throughout its service territory in an effort to understand member expectations, learn about the service and prepare for its impact on the electrical grid.
This initiative is the latest evidence of YEC’s commitment to providing affordable and reliable energy to its members while offering programs and services that enhance your quality of life.
YEC recently installed an EV charging station at Piedmont Medical Center’s Fort Mill campus, a decision that increases accessibility for EV owners in the Fort Mill community.
Chris Mitchell, CEO of Piedmont Medical Center Fort Mill, is enthusiastic about the collaboration and the impact it has had on PMC patients, visitors and employees, which is a continuation of the decision to construct a Fort Mill campus.
In 2020, Fort Mill residents could access local services from PMC for the first time with the addition of a free-standing emergency department. Mitchell and other staff members noted positive feedback from community members, who embraced a nearby medical care service. The larger campus, located off Highway 160, is an extension of PMC’s goal to provide an option for quality care within Fort Mill, the fastest growing section of York County.
PMC designed its Fort Mill campus with convenience and accessibility in mind for patients and their families. Mitchell says YEC’s proposal to install a public charging station was a natural extension of this goal. Each EV charger is the latest effort from PMC to create a comfortable environment where electric vehicle owners will be less stressed when they or their loved ones are receiving care.
Mitchell says the service also is an attractive benefit to potential employees, who may see an onsite public charging station as a differentiator from other employers. For current employees who own an EV, the station allows them to charge their vehicles at their job, removing one more obstacle that may prevent them from providing excellent care to their patients.
“What resonates most with me is that YEC works really similar to PMC,” says Mitchell, who is a YEC member at home, as well. “They’re very invested in the community, and that’s why this relationship has always worked so well. It’s not surprising to walk into a key community meeting and see someone from the co-op there.”
YEC is always looking out for you and continues to provide services that enhance your daily lives.
