Farming has long been the backbone of Ohio’s economy. Even if you don’t farm today, you likely have friends or family who do, or ancestors who once did.
Ohio’s electric cooperatives have a long history with the farming community. Years ago, rural residents (many of them farmers) worked together to bring electricity to their homes and towns, changing life in the countryside forever.
Independence Day is a special time for Ohioans to honor the courage and hard work of our founding fathers, who overcame great struggles to create a nation where values like liberty, personal freedom, and self-governance could thrive. These same values continue to guide how Ohio’s electric cooperatives operate today.
June is that glorious month when we enjoy the longest days of the year. In fact, Ohioans get more than 15 hours of sunlight on several days surrounding the summer solstice later this month. In recent years, it’s also been a time when solar power draws significant attention as something that seems like an obvious solution to America’s ever-growing electricity needs.
But even as more electricity is added to the grid from solar resources, it’s important to understand that solar power alone cannot meet our nation’s electricity needs.
Electricity is truly remarkable. It’s everywhere — lighting up our homes, powering TVs and refrigerators, charging phones we rely on daily, and generally changing our lives in ways we almost take for granted. It feels like it’s always been here.
That’s not the case, of course. It’s worth remembering that, though electricity now runs almost every part of our routines, most homes and businesses in rural parts of the United States didn’t have electricity available to them until the mid-1930s.
I think we all can relate to the amazing feeling of those sunny, 70-degree days that start coming regularly in April, giving us hope that winter is finally over. We also know that crushing feeling of 30 degrees and snow the next day — bringing us back to the reality that winter isn’t quite finished with us yet.
Affordable and reliable electricity strengthens cooperative communities and enhances the lives of members wherever they are — on farms, in homes or schools, at their small businesses or large retail establishments, or even in industrial and manufacturing facilities. While it’s essential to meet our obligations to current cooperative members, we must also work to support economic development activities that help attract new people and enterprises to cooperative territories, with the aim of further benefiting these communities.
I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to lead two remarkable organizations, Ohio Rural Electric Cooperatives, Inc., and Buckeye Power, Inc. (together known as Ohio’s Electric Cooperatives). Our primary goals — providing affordable, reliable power and partnering with electric cooperatives across Ohio to enhance the lives of their members and communities — have never been more important, and I don’t take that responsibility lightly.
Going back to our beginning, every leader of this organization has been distinctly different from the last. We’ve all had our own personalities, our own priorities, and our own approaches to the issues of the day. While none of us has been perfect, each has been the right person at the right time for the needs of the organization.
