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Matt Berry was one of the first Ohio co-op employees to go through the Leadership Edge program in 2017. He has since been promoted to CEO at Midwest Electric in St. Marys (photo courtesy of Midwest Electric).

Getting an edge

Electric cooperatives often are destination workplaces within the communities they serve. Co-ops offer competitive pay, strong benefits packages, and a commitment to work-life balance.

Rise to the top

Matt Berry and Tim Street served similar roles at two Ohio distribution cooperatives in 2017 — Street was director of communications and member services at Mid-Ohio Energy Cooperative in Kenton, while Berry was manager of community and customer relations at St. Marys-based Midwest Electric — when the statewide cooperative association initiated a leadership-training program called Leadership Edge for co-op employees around Ohio. 

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Logan County Electric Cooperative members who round up their electric bills help ensure programs like RTC Industries in Bellefontaine have the money they need to do critical work in their community. RTC, for example, used its grant from LCEC’s Operation Round Up to fund a service for young adults with developmental disabilities.

Neighbor helping neighbor

Jennifer Thornburgh, a member of Bellefontaine-based Logan County Electric Cooperative, hadn’t really thought much about the few pennies she added each month to her electric bill. 

As it turns out, Thornburgh’s donation — an average of $6 per year, a few nickels and dimes at a time — helped LCEC boost a program that helped her own family. One of LCEC’s Operation Round Up grants helped RTC Industries in Bellefontaine to provide a transition program for young adults with developmental disabilities.

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Gypsum Landfill

Hidden value

The Cardinal Power Plant is difficult to miss.

A byproduct with value 

In simple terms, the act of combustion produces heat, water, and carbon dioxide, and depending on the fuel being burned — in this case, coal — there are other byproducts. 
Ohio’s electric cooperatives have invested more than 
$1 billion in environmental systems to keep most of those other byproducts contained. One such system, the scrubbers, removes sulfur dioxide and converts it to synthetic gypsum. Synthetic gypsum has many uses, and it’s a key component in wallboard used in homes and businesses.

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Attendees of the Ohio Farm Bureau's ExploreAg event get an up-close look at the profession at the Central Ohio Lineworker Training Facility in Mount Gilead.

Intro to line work

Mike Taylor was a few days away from a scheduled pre-hire lineworker assessment at Paulding Putnam Electric Cooperative when his little brother, Tim, attended an Ohio Farm Bureau ExploreAg one-day program at the

ExploreAg is Ohio Farm Bureau’s signature agricultural literacy and workforce development program. The majority of its offerings, which are free, are week- and weekend-long immersion camps for high school students. Teens get a broad-spectrum look at agriculture and related STEM fields, develop their leadership and collaboration skills, and prepare for college and/or a career.

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Downed trees and power lines

Helping Hands

As Father’s Day approached this past June, so did a weather pattern that brought with it a series of storms across Ohio. The storms appeared initially to be strong, to be sure, but not out of line with the usual tempests that sweep through the Midwest every summer.

As the co-ops organized resources to restore the systems to turn power back on to their members, the next several days brought alternating extreme heat and additional powerful storm systems that made the work of restoring service both more dangerous and more plentiful. Problems on AEP’s high-voltage transmission network resulted in more than 100,000 central Ohio homes and businesses having their power intentionally shut off for long stretches of time.

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The renewable, green energy source, generated and transmitted by Buckeye Power for OEC members, has been available since 2017 when the OurSolar program was launched.

Reality check

The hours of bright sunshine that come with scorching Ohio summers often spur people to consider harnessing energy from the sky’s brightest star with rooftop solar panels.

Bright side

Demarco Deshaies of Rockridge in Hocking County decided to investigate solar as a backup after losing electric service for several days following a devastating February 2022 winter storm.

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Beat the peak

Sometime soon — perhaps sometime this month, but certainly in July and August — you’re likely to see a “peak alert” notice from your electric cooperative. 

What’s the peak?

It’s important that consumer-members are aware of those peaks because electric rates for the entire year are based on the highest points of usage during the year, referred to as “peak demand.” 

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Filling the void

Anyone living in a rural area of Ohio knows there’s a problem with internet service.

The need for speed

Lack of high-speed internet access affects students’ ability to learn, individuals’ ability to work, and businesses’ ability to prosper, because every day the world is becoming more digital. Online classes, remote work, and Zoom meetings are becoming more and more the norm, and without broadband, those digital tools are simply unavailable. 

There can be no doubt that electric cooperatives will play a part in bridging that digital divide. 

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To maximize your solar productivity, ensure that your roof is in good condition and isn’t shaded throughout the day.

If you ask me...

March is the time of year when Ohioans are treated to an occasional teasing day of sunshine and warmth before winter reminds us that it’s not done just yet.

We asked a handful of energy advisors from across the state to get us started with some basic information and a few questions to ask as you do your research. All of them agree on the most important step: Contact your electric cooperative before signing any agreement. This is a crucial part of the procedure, not only to ensure that your array is built correctly and properly connects to the cooperative’s system, but also to get an understanding of exactly how solar is going to work for you. 

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Lineworkers operating in icy, snowy weather.

Duty calls

Lineworkers operate under dangerous conditions even on the best of days, so when Mother Nature issues a challenge, they’re more than prepared to answer the call. 

More than 40 Ohio lineworkers spent a good chunk of January in Virginia, helping to restore power to more than 80,000 co-op members after a storm there. Then in early February, 63 lineworkers from 20 cooperatives around the state jumped into action to help restore power to more than 30,000 Ohio co-op members when winter storm Landon put a coating of ice over some of the most difficult-to-reach areas of the southern part of the state. 

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