The Paulding Putnam EC board of trustees are, from left, Ken Niese, Doug Fortman, Steve McMichael, Dr. Ronald Black, Jay Dangler, Joseph Kohnen, William Dowler, Tim Derck, Dr. John Saxton, and CEO and President George Carter.

Paulding Putnam Electric Co-op (PPEC) held its 81st Annual Meeting on Saturday, March 17. It was a well-attended event, where both Board Chairman Dr. John Saxton and President and CEO George Carter reflected on 2017 and discussed plans for years to come. 

“Our employees rise to the challenge every day to provide great service to our members,” stated Carter. He went on to explain that over the past several years, the co-op has made great progress in member satisfaction and outage times, as well as having the lowest rates in the region.

“PPEC hasn’t had a rate increase in over four years,” Carter said. “While we don’t like to ever increase rates, members will see around a $3 per month increase on their bill in March. Even with the slight increase, when compared to other utilities, this is still lower than surrounding utilities.”

The small increase was deemed necessary after a cost of service study was conducted in 2017 and will be used to continue making necessary improvements to PPEC’s aging infrastructure. This will aid in continuing the co-op’s efforts in improving reliable power to members. 

During the annual meeting, PPEC Board Chairman Dr. John Saxton pointed out several highlights from 2017.  “I’m proud to be part of PPEC,” he said. “We have held controllable expenses to one-half of the national average, and we’ve done all this while improving our reliability.” 

During the meeting, PPEC also recognized its “Who Powers You” nominees. Paulding Putnam Electric launched the #WhoPowersYou Contest last year to recognize and reward community volunteers. #WhoPowersYou is in partnership with America’s Touchstone Energy^® cooperatives and is a national contest to promote volunteerism. The contest is designed to celebrate local heroes by allowing our co-op members and employees to nominate someone who’s making a difference in our community.

“While our nominees didn’t win the national contest, we still want to thank them for making a big impact in our community,” said PPEC Marketing Manager Erika Willitzer. 

The following were recognized for being nominated for the national contest: Griffin Waltermire of Van Wert, Phyliss Bidlack of Paulding, Doug Deitering of Glandorf, Kylee Baumle of Paulding, and Stan Jordan of Antwerp.

In other business, attorney Brian Gorrell reported that Doug Fortman (District 8), Ken Niese (District 7), and Tim Derck (District 3) all ran unopposed; therefore, they were re-elected. The PPEC board then took their oaths of office.

Members who couldn’t make it to the meeting can visit www.PPEC.coop for more information.