Co-op Comments

A newsletter for Rural Electric Cooperative membersSeptember 2019

Classifi ed Ads 4Classifi ed Ads 4Center for Member Engagement 3Center for Member Engagement 3 Win a Electric Bike 4Win a Electric Bike 4

Registration for the 80th Annual Meet-ing of Rural Electric Cooperative will begin at 8 a.m. on Saturday, October 5. Th e meeting will be held in REC’s Multi Pur-pose Center on Highway 76 N in Lindsay.

Offi cial notice, along with prize drawing information, will be arriving in the mail about 10 days prior to the meeting. Please bring this information with you to the meeting for ease in registration and to sign up for the prize drawings.

Th e Lindsay Municipal Hospital, South Central Medical Center, Lindsay Emergency Medical Service and Physical Th erapy Central will be providing a health fair free to members. Th e health fair will begin at 8 a.m. and run until the start of the business session at 10 a.m. Members planning to have their blood tested should refrain from eating aft er midnight prior to the health fair. For the convenience of our members, there are two consent forms for the health fair on the offi cial notice.

In addition to the health fair, the Lindsay Kiwanis Club will also be hosting their annual fundraiser breakfast serving pancakes, bacon and coff ee for all of REC’s members attending the Annual Meeting.

Crossfi re will provide the entertainment beginning at 8:45 a.m. Crossfi re has been playing together for over 25 years. Th ey play a wide variety of country music and a few old classic rock songs.

Th e band includes Coye Langford on the bass, Mark Byrne on rhythm guitar, Danny Stewart on lead guitar, Monty Mink on rhythm guitar and Greg Peery on drums. Band members Langford, Byrne

and Stewart are from Alex. While Mink is from Cement and Peery is formerly from Lindsay but now lives in Blanchard. All fi ve members are involved with vocals and providing the harmony for which they are known. Crossfi re plays for parties, occasionally banquets and several times throughout the year at outdoor events in Blanchard and the surrounding area.

Members will hear reports from Board President Gary Jones and CEO Dale Nye updating members of activities from 2018.

REC will give out seventy-fi ve, $75 gift certifi cates for electricity during the busi-ness session and approximately 40 gift s.

REC's 80th Annual Meeting setTh ree grand prize drawings of $500 gift certifi cates for electricity will be given away following the business session. Also a drawing for an electric bicycle for members ages 16 and older as well as two children's bicycles will be given away.

Registration gift s include: an REC baseball cap, a fi ve piece kitchen set which includes a BBQ set with two skewers, one fork, one spatula, one pair of tongs, one brush and four corn holders, a nail fi le, LED bulbs, a calendar, 2020 Farmers’ Al-manac and an ink pen.

Members must be present to win prizes.

Crossfi re is schedule to perform during REC's 80th Annual Meeting.

2 Co-op Comments

CEO’s MESSAGE

Board of TrusteesGary Jones, President, District 1

Scott Christian, Vice President, District 1Brent Bacon, Sec./Treasurer, District 1

Larry Anderson, District 2Johnny Harrel, District 2

Terri Hays, District 2Charles Crawford, District 3

Mark Finch, District 3Randy Griswold, District 3

Dan Williams, Attorney

Rural Electric Cooperative, Inc.13942 Highway 76 • P.O. Box 609

Lindsay, OK 73052405-756-3104 • 800-259-3504

Outage Number: 855-399-2683www.recok.coop

Management and Staff Dale Nye, Manager/CEO

Linda Ray, CFOKelli Lindsey, Administrative Assistant

and Staff CoordinatorElaine Gilreath, Manager of Customer

Service and Data ProcessingEd Bevers, Manager of Engineering

Mitch Gilreath, Manager of Information Technology Services

Megan Lawrence, Manager of Member Services and Marketing

Leonard Coff ee, Manager of Safety and Loss Control/Facilities

David Crull, System SuperintendentJason Mays, Operations Superintendent

September 2019Co-op CommentsOffi cial publication of Rural Electric

Cooperative, Inc. CO-OP COMMENTS is owned, controlled and directed by Rural

Electric Cooperative, Inc. It is printed monthly and mailed to members in

Garvin, McClain, Comanche, Stephens, Grady and Carter counties in Oklahoma.

Preparing for the storm

It’s your worst-case scenario. A major storm was predicted and this time, the pre-dictions were right. Many power lines are down, and your electricity may be out for several days. You are low on everything–food, pet supplies, toilet paper, batteries, diapers and your medication.

Imagine how you would feel in this situation. While you can’t predict which weather forecast will come true, you can plan ahead so when a severe weather event strikes, you have the tools and resources to eff ectively weather the storm. Th e Depart-ment of Homeland Security off ers several resources to help you prepare for major weather events and natural disasters. Visit www.ready.gov/make-a-plan.

Preparedness Actions and Items• Stock your pantry with a three-day

supply of non-perishable food, such as canned goods, energy bars, peanut butter, powdered milk, instant coff ee, water and other essentials like toiletries.

• Confi rm you have adequate sanitation and hygiene supplies including towelettes, soap and hand sanitizer.

• Ensure your First Aid kit is stocked with pain relievers, bandages and other medical essentials, and make sure your

prescriptions are current. • Set aside basic household items you

will need, including fl ashlights, batteries, a manual can opener and portable, battery-powered radio or TV.

• Organize emergency supplies so they are together in an easily accessible location.

During a prolonged outageIn the event of an outage, turn off appli-

ances, TVs, computers and other sensitive electronics. Th is will help avert damage from a power surge, and will also help pre-vent overloading the circuits during power restoration. Th at said, do leave one light on so you will know when power is restored. If utilizing a small household generator, consider using LED holiday lights to illu-minate a living area. A strand of 100 white lights draws little energy yet produces considerable light. Solar lights also work, if they can receive some sunlight during the day for charging.

During thunderstorms, the American Red Cross recommends avoiding electrical equipment and land-based telephones. Use battery-powered TVs and radios instead. Keep away from windows. Listen to local news or NOAA Weather Radio for emer-gency updates, or check your SmartHub app, REC's website and REC's facebook page for restoration updates.

Aft er the storm, avoid downed power lines and walking through fl ooded areas where power lines could be submerged. Allow ample room for utility crews to safely perform their jobs – including on your property.

Power in planningAdvance planning for severe storms or

other emergencies can reduce stress and anxiety caused by the weather event and can lessen the impact of the storm’s eff ects. Sign up for NOAA emergency alerts and warnings and install the SmartHub app to your phone to stay abreast of restoration eff orts and other important co-op news and information. Act today, because there is power in planning.

Co-op Comments 3

SmartHub is a convenient two-way communication program allowing members to access their Rural Electric account informa-tion through personal computers and mobile devices. SmartHub is intuitive, easy-to-navigate and provides much more than just bill payment. 1352603

SmartHub is a tool to help all of REC’s members. Creating an account takes less than three minutes and many of you are already connected. Th is tool allows the members to have a better under-standing of their account and daily usage patterns.

With SmartHub, members can pay their bill immediately with secure online payments, view monthly electricity usage and his-tory including daily kWh, manage account information directly and track payment history from mobile devices or the web. Mem-bers can also report an outage and sign-up to receive notifi cations via email or text messaging concerning their account.

To pay your bills or utilize any of the other features, simply go to www.recok.coop and enter your login information or register as a new user. Also, at www.recok.coop is a list of frequently asked questions about SmartHub, as well as information and videos on using SmartHub. Th e videos and information about how to use SmartHub can be found under the Account and Billing tab. From the Account and Billing tab, click on SmartHub and from the drop down menu select your desired topic.

SmartHub is available on Android and iOS smartphones and

A center for member engagement

tablets as well as on the web. To download the free SmartHub app for your mobile device or tablet, click on the App Store icon on your iPhone/iPad or the Google Play icon on your Android phone/tablet, and search for “SmartHub”.app.

Rural Electric is proud to provide our members a powerful, secure and convenient account access, as well as detailed infor-mation about your energy usage via SmartHub. Sign up today to experience the new and exciting features of SmartHub.

HARVEST SAFETY TIPS FORFARM WORKERS

• Maintain 10-foot clearance around all utility equipment in all directions.• Use a spotter and deploy fl ags to maintain safe distances from power lines and other equipment when doing fi eld work.• If your equipment makes contact with an

energized or downed power line, contact us

immediately by phone and remain inside the vehicle until the power line is de-energized. In case of smoke or fi re, exit the cab by making a solid jump out of the cab, without touching it at the same time, and hop away to safety.• Consider equipment and cargo extensions of

your vehicle. Lumber, hay, tree limbs, irrigation pipe and even bulk materials can conduct electricity, so keep them out of contact with electrical equipment.

Source: Safe Electricity

Classifi ed Advertisement

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Co-op Comments 4

Copper-bottomed pans heat faster on the stove. In the oven, ceramic and

glass dishes are better than metal. With ceramic and glass dishes, you can turn the oven down about 25 degrees, and your meal will cook just as quickly.

Learn more at www.energy.gov

Energy Effi ciencyTip of the Month

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WIN AN ELECTRIC BIKE

AT ANNUAL MEETING

MEMBERS 16 YEARS AND OLDER SIGN UP TO WIN

Q:A:

When will I receive my notice about Annual Meeting in the mail?Th e offi cial notice for REC's 80th Annual Meeting will be mailed and members should receive them about 10 days before Annual Meeting in the mail.

Q: Why is there health fair consent forms with my offi cial notice?

A:

For our members' convenience we have included two health fair consent forms, so our members can fi ll these forms out before they get to the health fair. Every member interested in participating in the health fair need to provide consent for the Lindsay Municipal Hospital to process the blood testing results.

Q: When is REC's Annual Meeting?

A:

Annual Meeting is set for October 5, with registration beginning at 8 a.m. and the business meeting beginning at 10 a.m.

Frequently AskedQuestions