We Deliver Information as Well as Your Electricity

 

MANAGERS MESSAGE

 

By reading this column and the other information in these pages, you are helping Jasper-Newton Electric Cooperative, Inc. (JNEC) fulfill one of the seven principles all cooperatives strive to follow, Principle No. 5: education, training and information.

 

You are holding one of this cooperative’s primary conduits of education and information, Texas Co-op Power magazine. Through these pages, we are able to communicate directly with you, the member-owner, on important co-op business such as bylaws changes and director elections. In addition, we can pass along energy saving tips that could save you money and safety information that might even save your life. We are also available to conduct programs to educate young people in our service territories with Safe City, resource books and career information.

 

JNEC also supports the education of our young people by sponsoring a scholarship program and sending student delegates to Washington, D.C., on the annual Government-in-Action Youth Tour and sponsoring students to the annual East Texas Rural Electric Youth Seminar (ETREYS).

 

Our scholarships are funded through the unclaimed capital credits that are returned to the co-op. In the past, these funds would have reverted to the state’s general fund. But thanks to a legislative change a few years ago, we can now use that money to help send deserving students to an institution of higher education. Our JNEC directors also fund a scholarship for a graduating senior attending a technical institution. 

 

On the Youth Tour, students receive an all-expenses-paid trip to the nation’s capital to tour historic sites, see important governmental buildings, meet lawmakers and learn more about how our system of government works.

 

There is still time to apply for this year’s scholarship award and the Youth Tour and ETREYS trips. Contact our Member Services department; find an application online at www.jnec.com or in the January and February issues of Texas Co-op Power magazine.

 

Our directors undergo an extensive series of courses designed to teach them the basics of electric system management and keep them informed of the latest developments to help them make the best decisions possible about your electric service.

 

Our education efforts also extend to our employees. We encourage and support them in taking courses through the state organization, Texas Electric Cooperatives, or the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. The better trained employees become the more valuable they are to the co-op. The investment in time and money is well worth it.

We also sponsor safety seminars that our linemen and other field workers attend. This education is vital to keeping our work force safe and reducing the costs involved with lost time accidents.

 

Our focus on education is part of the overall effort this co-op makes to improve the communities that we serve. JNEC is proud of our record of achievement in all areas of education, training and information.

 

-Mark Tamplin