HomeWorks Tri-County Electric has wrapped up its seven district member meetings, with a total of over 1,300 people attending, and the return of $2.4 million in capital credit refunds to its members this year. Directors Luke Pohl (District 3) and Ed Oplinger (District 6) were re-elected, and both ran unopposed. Pohl is the owner of Pohl’s Travel Plaza, north of Grand Ledge, and coaches [...]
The board treasurer of an Iowa electric co-op recently received an email from the CEO asking for immediate help on a wire transfer. Signature details were the same as the CEO would normally use, with the exception that the phone number listed was really the co-op’s fax number. “The treasurer was very alert and sent our CEO a text to confirm,” reports Patty Manuel, [...]
Midwest Energy is now the seventh Michigan electric distribution cooperative to become member-regulated. After hearing member comments, the co-op announced the decision in its July-August issue of Michigan Country Lines magazine. Of the nine co-ops, only Cloverland and Thumb remain fully regulated by the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC), and Cloverland recently announced that it is also considering becoming member-regulated. Member regulation allows a [...]
Most co-op field workers have experienced the frustration of returning to the office to find a service order waiting for them at a location they have just been. That’s why Great Lakes Energy has installed a mobile workforce management (MWFM) system to help connect operations and field workers with supervisors and dispatch in real-time. By replacing paper and radio with electronic communications, the new [...]
A six-day project scouting trip has brought a team of Michigan electric co-op employees home with details they’ll need to help bring electricity to a remote area of Guatemala. Jim Carpenter, Cherryland Electric line superintendent; Matt Monroe, Wolverine Power safety coordinator; Kevin Evans, Great Lakes Energy engineering analyst; and Dan King, MECA safety & loss control instructor, traveled June 22-27 to inspect the project [...]
Matt Miller, operations manager for HomeWorks Tri-County Electric Co-op, now has some different job titles: “retiree,” “Grandpa,” and “traveler”. An Ionia native, Miller started his line apprenticeship in 1974, working for contractors out of the IBEW Local 876 union hall, and earning journeyman status in 1979. A few years later, he started at Wolverine’s small Portland power plant, attached to the HomeWorks office. In [...]
An EF-1 tornado ripped through the town of Portland on June 22, ripping across the property and facilities of the headquarters of HomeWorks Tri-County Electric Co-op, and causing major damage to about 11 other businesses, 70 homes, and four churches. About five people received minor injuries, with no fatalities. The HomeWorks Tri-County office in Portland was damaged in several areas, but the Co-op was [...]
More than 1.6 billion people in the world remain without electricity. We know that clean water, improved healthcare, better education, safer streets and economic growth all start with power. That’s why Michigan’s electric cooperatives are partnering with the NRECA International Foundation to bring safe, reliable and affordable electricity to remote villages in Guatemala. “Michigan’s work in Guatemala will bring electricity to about 700 people [...]
At their meeting held earlier today, the GLE board of directors passed a resolution naming Bill Scott as President and Chief Executive Officer of Great Lakes Energy effective March 29, 2016. Bill is the current CFO/COO for Great Lakes Energy and will succeed Steve Boeckman who will retire on March 28, 2016. A replacement for Bill's position has not yet been determined and will [...]
Student representatives from Michigan co-ops joined approximately 1,700 students from across the country at the National Rural Electric Cooperative Youth Tour to Washington, D.C. (June 13-18). Michigan was represented by 18 students from eight electric co-ops, including Cherryland, Cloverland, Great Lakes, HomeWorks, Midwest, Presque Isle, Thumb and Wolverine. While in Washington, the Michigan students traveled with a local tour guide who provided valuable history [...]
