Co-op staff, directors, even a CEO get “Plugged In”

October 17, 2011

There were 28 attendees at the third session of the “Plugged into WVPA” orientation program. The two-day program has been designed to educate new WVPA employees and WVPA member system’s employees and Directors about the generation and transmission side of the electric cooperative world.

Newly merged NineStar Connect sent four attendees, including President & CEO Tim Hills. He and three other executives joined a local director to strengthen their grasp of today’s electric power industry. “It was a great opportunity to understand what’s involved with generation,” Tim recalled. “Seeing the SG Solutions plant was particularly interesting, as was discovering what the people at ACES do, and learning how MISO manages the grid.”
 
“It was the same type of program that we delivered in May, with basically the same agenda,” said Business & Community Development Coordinator Sherry Rose. “On Tuesday morning, we toured Wabash Valley and heard from senior staff. That afternoon, we toured SG Solutions. The next day, we learned about power supply before touring ACES and MISO.” Representatives of several co-ops participated, as did new Wabash Valley employees.
 
Tim said he was impressed with the program, and credited Sherry and the team for a “fantastic job. Putting all that together was very useful in helping us connect the dots, get a feel for the complexity of the business and understand everything involved in bringing electricity to the consumer.”
 
Sherry said that initial responses from the group indicated everyone thought the session was worthwhile. “Everybody seem to be engaged and provided a lot of positive feedback,” she noted. “We’re looking for things we can do to improve future sessions and we received a wide variety of responses. Some expressed concern about learning so much material in such a short time, while others wished for more question-and-answer time.”
 
But, she added, one question brought a positive response from all of the participants: Would you recommend Plugged Into WVPA to other employees and directors? “Every single person said yes, so I hope they go back and talk about the program.”
 
Tim seconded that recommendation. “I would especially recommend it for local directors who are newbies and to the newer staff people at co-ops.”