CORPORATE PROFILE
VVEC is a distribution electric cooperative providing electric service to residential, commercial and industrial consumers.
• Headquartered in Collinsville, Oklahoma, • Incorporated October 24, 1938. • 34,391 meters • Over 4,649 miles of electric line
• Services Nowata, Osage, Rogers, Tulsa and Washington counties
• Oklahoma’s third largest electrical cooperative based on the number of meters served.
• Ninety employees cover the Cooperative’s more than 4,671-square mile service territory daily maintaining the electric system and providing consumer-oriented service.
• Warehouse and maintenance facilities located in Nowata and Bartlesville, Oklahoma.
• VVEC is a non-profit corporation wholly-owned by the members it serves.
TRUSTEES
• Governed by a nine-member board of trustees who are elected at district meetings by the members residing in those districts.
• Office terms are for three years • Three trustee positions elected each year
In addition, VVEC promotes the safe and economical use of electricity among the membership and participates in community and other activities that are in the interest of the membership and general public.
The October 15, 2011 Annual Meeting marks the 73rd time members of VVEC will gather to hear the accomplishments, activities and financial reports of the Cooperative’s previous year.
MANAGER’S MESSAGE
Alice Houston VVEC General Manager
Improving Your Quality of Life Pursuing an improved quality of life is
what gave birth to electric cooperatives. You know the story of those people who lived in the nation’s rural areas and whose quality of life was improved drastically when President Franklin Roosevelt’s Rural Electrification Act funded the creation of electrical distribution systems throughout those rural areas. But it took more than federal legislation and
congressional funding: it took local residents giving of their time and efforts to make life better. Those area residents held meetings to
create individual cooperatives such as VVEC. They worked with representatives of the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) to obtain funding. Neighbors visited neighbors collecting required membership fees. Area men worked together to set utility poles and string electric line. Great effort from a few improved the quality of life for many. Improving our members’ quality of life has been a priority for VVEC since the co-op’s creation. Today, as it was in the beginning, we feel our initial obligation to that effort is to provide dependable, affordable electric service. Having some of the lowest rates in Oklahoma is testament to the success of that endeavor. But as VVEC has grown, we have found
Power Circuit is published monthly by Verdigris Valley Electric Cooperative, Collinsville, Oklahoma for its members in Tulsa, Rogers, Washington, Nowata and Osage counties. Periodical postage paid at Tulsa, Oklahoma and other additional mailing offices. Subscription price is $0.21 per month.
POSTMASTER - send address changes to Power Circuit, P.O. Box 219, Collinsville, OK 74021.
Volume 70 • Number 10 • October 2011 2
numerous other ways to improve quality of life. We helped members learn how to use their new electric service to make residential life easier, and their commercial lives more productive. We taught efficiency so members could realize the most from their energy dollars. We introduced state-of-the-art technology such as ground-source and air-source heat pumps. We developed rebate programs to make equipment, appliances, and the use of modern, efficient technology more affordable. We have participated in the Youth Tour
program since it began in 1964 under President Lyndon Johnson’s guidance. Since that time, we have sponsored almost 200 area youth as they have visited the nation’s capitol, witnessing our government at work, and understanding what it means to be an American.
As a long-time friend of education, we created the Adopt-A-School program in 1993.
Through this program we partner with our area school systems to provide needed equipment, study aids, playground equipment, books and software. To date, we have contributed over $77,000 to this program. Our Rural Fire grant program allows us
to assist area fire departments in obtaining equipment and training which helps lower insurance ratings, and in turn, lowers members’ insurance premiums. Since it began in 1995 we have given more than $157,000 in grants. Both of these programs have served as
patterns for similar programs for other electric cooperatives. But I feel the reason we as an organization
are so successful in improving our members’ quality of life is because we have employees and trustees who are generous with their time, talents, and efforts such as those very first co-op members were. Today we have employees who give of themselves without expecting or receiving any monetary compensation. They work with area youth by coaching little league teams, or are involved with church youth groups. We have employees who give of their time to mentor to young people suffering debilitating illnesses. Not all pain and loss is suffered by our human neighbors; we have employees who are sympathetic to our four-legged loved ones, and so they offer their assistance. We have employees who extend the work of their churches by visiting the sick or infirm. Throughout this annual report you will meet
a few of our people who make a difference through their generosity. They are but just a handful of the outstanding people we are fortunate to have working with us at VVEC. I am proud of each of them for choosing to make a difference and to contribute to improving lives and bettering communities. As an organization, we will continue to
focus on programs and services that enhance your lives as we continue to provide reliable, affordable electric service. I have no doubt we will continue to be successful in these endeavors because improving and enhancing others’ lives is the quiet, understated mission of our people.
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