The Van Wert County Courthouse

Friday, Mar. 29, 2024

PPEC has well-attended annual meeting

VW independent/submitted information

PAULDING — Paulding Putnam Electric Co-op (PPEC) held its 81st Annual Meeting on March 17.  It was a well-attended event, where both Board Chairman Dr. John Saxton and President and CEO George Carter reflected on 2017 and discussed plans for years to come.

“Our employees rise to the challenge every day to provide great service to our members,” Carter said, going on to explain that, over the past several years, the co-op has made great progress in member satisfaction, outage times, and he emphasized how PPEC has the lowest rates in the region.

“PPEC hasn’t had a rate increase in over four years. While we don’t like to ever increase rates, members will see around a $3 per month increase on their bill in March,” Carter added. “Even with the slight increase, when compared to other utilities, this is still lower than surrounding utilities.”

The small increase was deemed necessary after a Cost of Service Study was conducted in 2017, and will be used to continue making necessary improvements to PPEC’s aging infrastructure. This will aid in continuing the co-op’s efforts in improving reliable power to members.

During the Annual Meeting, PPEC Board Chairman Dr. John Saxton pointed out several highlights for the year 2017.

“I’m proud to be part of PPEC,” Saxton said. “We have held controllable expenses to one-half of the national average and we’ve done all this while improving our reliability.”

During the meeting, PPEC also recognized its “Who Powers You” nominees. Paulding Putnam Electric launched the #WhoPowersYou contest last year to recognize and reward community volunteers. #WhoPowersYou is in partnership with America’s Touchstone Energy Cooperatives and is a national contest to promote volunteerism. This contest is designed to celebrate local heroes. It’s a chance for our co-op members and employees to nominate someone who’s making a difference in our community.

“While our nominees didn’t win the national contest, we still want to thank them for making a big impact in our community,” said PPEC Marketing Manager Erika Willitzer.

The following were nominated for the national contest and were recognized: Griffin Waltmire of Van Wert, Phyliss Bidlack of Paulding, Doug Deitering of Glandorf, Kylee Baumle of Paulding, and Stan Jordan of Antwerp.

In other business, attorney Brian Gorrell reported that Doug Fortman (District 8), Ken Niese (District 7), and Tim Derck (District 3) all ran unopposed and, therefore, were re-elected. Following this announcement, the PPEC Board took its oath of office.

Several local high school students were also recognized during the meeting. The Youth Tour winners were Madelyn Lamb from Crestview High School and Adrienne Rosswurm from Payne (home schooled). Youth Tour is a week-long trip which includes visits to many of the most famous sites in Washington, D.C., and includes visits with the students’ Congressional representatives.

Scholarship winners were also named, as follows:

  • First place ($1,000 scholarship) – Jacob Kahle of Kalida High School and Elena Niese of Miller City High School.
  • Second place ($800 scholarship) — Allison Ruhe of Miller City and Brian Matson of Paulding
  • Third place ($600 scholarship) — Abigail Schroeder of Miller City, Abigail Hilvers of Ottoville, and Tyson Niese of Miller City.

Members who couldn’t make it to the meeting can go to the PPEC website at www.PPEC.coop for more information.

POSTED: 03/22/18 at 7:46 am. FILED UNDER: Lifestyles