by CEO Teresa Floyd and Board President Steve Rau
With gratitude for our achievements and milestones, we can say 2024 was indeed a remarkable year for your Cooperative—filled with historically low outages, as well as strategic investments in our infrastructure, maintenance, and employees.
Global supply chain issues continued to improve, and lead times on most line materials improved as well. Connecting with local legislators remains very important for ECI REC’s leaders, so there is an intentional effort on our behalf to reach out to our senators and representatives to inquire about get-to-know visits at the ECI REC administrative headquarters. It’s essential that our legislators can count on ECI REC for credible information!
Let’s take a moment to reflect on the successes of 2024 and share our vision for 2025.
Safety
Safety is a cornerstone of your Cooperative’s operations and requires commitment at all levels. It’s not just about ensuring compliance with regulations but also fostering a culture that prioritizes the well-being of employees and the community. The safety of our employees, members, and the public is our number-one priority. We continue to participate in ongoing education programs, conferences, and in-house training that’s available to all Cooperative employees. We also conduct monthly safety meetings with the assistance of the Iowa Association of Electric Cooperatives (IAEC), which provides annually required training and other safety-related training to ECI REC.
We also participate in the NRECA’s Rural Electric Safety Achievement Program (RESAP). In 2024, your Cooperative successfully completed the assessment and was awarded the Certificate of Safety Achievement. The over 200-point checklist included in the assessment revealed that we have no areas of critical concern, receiving exceeding expectations or satisfactory scores. One notable highlight was that ECI REC had zero employee lost time or vehicle accidents for five consecutive years (2019–2023). In 2024, your Cooperative reached more than 400,000 hours of work without a lost time accident.
These achievements underscore our steadfast dedication to maintaining a safe and secure work environment for each member of the ECI REC family. Our employees’ unwavering commitment to safety ensures their own well-being and that of their colleagues. For that, we extend our deepest gratitude. Let’s continue to uphold our commitment to safety as we work together toward even greater achievements in the coming year!
Keeping the Lights On
One of the key highlights of 2024 was a record-low outage total of 21.5 average minutes per member-account. (For perspective, the previous record was set in 2023, and it was 28.2 minutes!) This number is based on the outages we could control. It does not include planned or scheduled outages or outages caused by the public or power supplier.
Our continued investment in plant upgrades, proactive maintenance program, and good weather played a big part. Crews were busy replacing aged poles, changing out oil circuit reclosers with electronic reclosers, installing new services for members, and working on other maintenance projects. Contractors inspected approximately 6,300 poles and 1,030 pieces of underground equipment at 4 of our 35 substations. Contractors also carried out the Cooperative’s vegetation management program throughout 376 miles of line in the Walker, Jesup, Shady Grove, and Van Horne substation areas.
As part of our overhead Work Plan projects, our contractor replaced approximately 31 miles of older conductor and poles in the Bryantsburg, Rowley, Shellsburg, Van Horne, and Homer substation areas, strengthening our infrastructure and providing more capacity for our distribution system.
Remotely controlled switches were added to five of our substations to help cut down on outage response times. During an outage, these remote switches will allow us to backfeed circuits that are without power and feed them from other substations that are still energized. They are also used when a substation must be deenergized for maintenance. This can all happen remotely through our SCADA system.
Cooperative Difference
Unlike investor-owned utilities that maximize profits to pay dividends to shareholders, not-for-profit electric cooperatives like ECI REC provide members with “at cost” electric service. At the end of the year, after all operational expenses have been covered, a portion of any excess funds is allocated back to our members in the form of capital credits. With a positive outlook for 2024, your Board of Directors elected to retire over $600,000 in patronage dividends. Over 64% of the retirement was returned to current members via credit on their June 2024 energy bills.
We continue to foster a culture of excellence and continuous improvement for our 34 employees, who have 613 combined years of service. In 2024, we invested over 2,573 hours in employee development. We also invested in invaluable education and training for your eight Board directors, helping them make informed decisions as they determine the strategic direction and priorities of your Cooperative. Four ECI REC directors have received Credentialed Cooperative Director Certificates. Three of these four have also obtained Board Leadership and Director Gold Certificates.
Finally, in 2024 we updated our survey format, making the new survey available to all members, all the time. We understand you are busy and receive many solicitations for your opinion. With that in mind, we’ve kept the survey questions short, and there is a comments section for your feedback. Your input is invaluable to us; your feedback will guide our efforts and ensure we continue to meet your needs.
Commitment to Community
In 2024, we participated in two Junior Achievement curriculum presentations at local elementary schools. We also awarded $1,000 scholarships to 12 graduating seniors at 11 different high schools. We sponsored two high school students on the 2024 Iowa Youth Tour, an all-expense week-long trip to Washington, D.C.
In June, Line Foreman Brian Reidy traveled to Guatemala with 13 other lineworkers from Iowa and Minnesota electric cooperatives. They volunteered with an international project affiliated with the NRECA, with a goal of bringing electricity and clean water filtration to the village of Las Penas, which sits at an elevation of approximately 6,000 feet and is made up of about 35 homes scattered on the crests and flat areas of the mountainside. Crews helped build more than three miles of power lines and wired homes for electric service.
ECI REC had a great time at the Benton and Buchanan County Fairs in 2024. We contributed $1,026 to the county Cattlemen’s Associations, Pork Producers, and Dairy Producers through vouchers for pork and beef burgers and ice cream cones. We brought a “live line” trailer for lineworkers to perform demonstrations on the hazards of overhead power lines. We also passed out 200 swag bags and 196 toy hard hats to fairgoers, and 10 lucky members who visited our booth received a $50 electric bill credit.
We celebrated two local volunteers—Michael Kramer of Vinton and Yvette Vogel of Jesup—who were nominated in the Shine the Light contest by making a monetary contribution to their individual community causes.
Looking Out for You
Iowa’s electric cooperatives regularly coordinate meetings with state and federal legislators through the IAEC. During the week of September 23, approximately 20 electric cooperative representatives traveled to Washington, D.C. These advocates were able to meet with every member of the Iowa congressional delegation.
Looking Ahead to 2025
ECI REC has already started working toward a great 2025. As soon as the new year began, our crews were busy designing and staking projects, replacing poles, doing annual line inspections, and working on other maintenance projects. Our overhead construction contractor has begun work to replace 22–25 miles of older line with new conductor and poles, which is one of the 2025 Work Plan projects. Our tree contractor has begun trimming trees. Pole inspections and underground Work Plan projects are in motion and will continue throughout the remainder of the year.