West Florida Electric Cooperative Association, Inc.

A special thanks from WFEC's CEO

Dear West Florida Electric Cooperative member,

Recently, our cooperative, our member-owners and our employees experienced difficult times — as did our entire community — when Hurricane Ivan brought death and destruction to the area. In addition to taking lives and damaging property, Ivan left thousands of WFEC customers without power in its aftermath. Over the next several days, WFEC’s linemen worked 16- to 18-hour days in windy, wet conditions, even in pitch-black night, cutting countless trees and wading through swampy areas. Co-op employees left their homes and families, many without power themselves, to work toward the common goal of restoring electric service to our customers as quickly and safely as possible. I thank God that they were able to complete their mission with no accidents, despite working in dangerous conditions.

Meanwhile, you provided invaluable assistance by utilizing the Co-op’s automated response phone system to report outages or damage observed on WFEC’s electric distribution system. This allowed our service center personnel to gather information to dispatch crews as efficiently as possible. I want to personally thank the dedicated, professional personnel who form our power restoration team, whether they repaired lines and other equipment, cleared trees and other debris, provided transportation, hauled materials, monitored outage reports, dispatched crews, prepared or delivered crews’ meals or served in some other role. These individuals make me proud to be a part of WFEC. On behalf of our entire organization, I also thank you, our member-owners, for your patience and cooperation, which played a vital part in our power restoration efforts, and for allowing WFEC to serve you.

Sincerely,
Bill Rimes
WFEC Executive Vice President and CEO