Mandatory shutdowns of schools, businesses and public gathering spaces related to the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic have had a significant impact on our personal and professional lives. But, through all the uncertainty and constantly-changing conditions, Michigan’s electric cooperatives have remained dedicated to keeping the power on. Safety preparedness and response has always been a vital part of our energy industry, and member co-ops have [...]
No one invited winter storms Dorothy and Ezekiel to Thanksgiving, but they showed up anyway—leaving hundreds of thousands without power over the holiday. While others were busy planning a holiday feast, MECA safety director and mutual aid coordinator, Joe McElroy, was keeping a close eye on the weather forecast. “Holidays and widespread storm outages seem to go hand-in-hand these days,” McElroy said. Winter [...]
Three northern Michigan electric cooperatives welcomed the Administrator of Rural Utilities Services (RUS), Chad Rupe, to Great Lakes Energy’s headquarters in Boyne City on Oct. 10. Rupe visited the area from Washington, D.C. to meet with and learn more about the work of the three local electric cooperatives who all receive loan funding through RUS. Officials from the USDA Rural Development office and [...]
June marks a huge milestone in the southwest Michigan rural broadband revolution as Midwest Energy & Communications (MEC) installs its 10,000th high-speed fiber internet customer. In 2015, MEC launched a five-year plan to deploy fiber internet across its southwest Michigan service territory, leveraging the investment in the two-way fiber communications infrastructure on its distribution system to make the best available high-speed option available [...]
After 39 years of service to the electric cooperative program, Cherryland Electric Cooperative announced that Jim Carpenter will retire as their line superintendent and safety director, effective April 2019. “Jim’s passion and heart for our members will be missed,” said Tony Anderson, general manager of Cherryland. “We can’t replace the 35 plus years of experience at many different positions.” Carpenter was hired by [...]
Fifty lucky subscribers were the first to be connected to Trustream before the end of 2018, and the new fiber-to-the-home internet service from Great Lakes Energy is already receiving rave reviews. Earlier this month, Bear Creek Organic Farm shared a Facebook post explaining the dramatic impact Trustream has had on their business and in their daily lives: "IT FINALLY HAPPENED! ON January 10, 2019 we joined the 21st [...]
MECA and its member co-ops have always valued a positive working relationship with the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC). However, since all of the co-ops have transitioned to member regulation in recent years, interaction between the co-ops and the agency has become much less frequent. While the MPSC no longer regulates rates for co-ops, they do regulate several important issues that impact co-ops, [...]
Northern Michigan endured winds in excess of 50 miles-per-hour on Friday, Sept. 21. These powerful gusts took down trees and left thousands of co-op members without power. They also forced the Mackinac Bridge to partially close, which complicated restoration efforts. Alger Delta Cooperative was hit hard. At the height of the event, about one-quarter of their system was without power (2,500 outages). The [...]
The last week of August included a very clear safety focus for Thumb Electric Cooperative (TEC). The co-op completed a Rural Electric Safety Achievement Program (RESAP) audit and provided life-saving Pole Top and Bucket Rescue Training for its operations employees. “I’m proud of how they’re living up to the RESAP goal of continuous improvement,” said MECA Safety Director, Joe McElroy, commending TEC leadership and [...]
“If there’s going to be a big storm that causes widespread outages, you can bet it will probably happen over a holiday,” claims Joe McElroy, safety director and mutual aid coordinator at MECA. Turns out he may be onto something. That was certainly the case last week as a large-scale outage event took place over the Labor Day holiday. Storms raced through Michigan [...]
