{"id":47330,"date":"2025-04-02T07:35:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-02T11:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/?p=47330"},"modified":"2025-03-31T14:39:12","modified_gmt":"2025-03-31T18:39:12","slug":"6000-in-scholarships-and-bill-credits-awarded-at-ppecs-89th-annual-meeting-broadcast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/6000-in-scholarships-and-bill-credits-awarded-at-ppecs-89th-annual-meeting-broadcast\/","title":{"rendered":"$6,000 in scholarships and bill credits awarded at PPEC\u2019s 89th Annual Meeting Broadcast"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Paulding Putnam Electric Cooperative\u2019s (PPEC) 89th Annual Meeting of Members premiered on Facebook and YouTube at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, March 22, 2025. More than 1,500 viewers tuned in to watch the meeting over the weekend for co-op updates and a recap of 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Board election results were announced by PPEC attorney Brian Gorrell, with each elected to serve a three-year term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 District 2 (Van Wert County, OH): Incumbent William Dowler of Convoy was re-elected by affirmation as no other candidates submitted petitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 District 4 (Crane, Emerald, Jackson, Blue Creek, and Paulding townships in Paulding County, OH; Delaware township in Defiance, OH): Incumbent Bill Beckman of Paulding was re-elected by affirmation as no other candidates submitted petitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 District 5 (Adams township, Allen County, IN): Incumbent Steven McMichael of New Haven was re-elected to District 5 WITH Stephan Poiry of New Haven also running for the seat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Board Chairman Joseph Kohnen reflected on PPEC\u2019s 90-year legacy, noting the cooperative\u2019s continued innovation and investment in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs we approach our 90th anniversary of service to the members, Paulding Putnam Electric Cooperative continues its legacy of innovation by investing in the future,\u201d said Board Chairman Kohnen. \u201cJust as we brought electricity to underserved communities in 1935, we are now launching high-speed fiber internet to ensure our members stay connected in an increasingly digital world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also encouraged members to save the date for PPEC\u2019s 2025 Member Appreciation Day on July 12, which will be held at PPEC\u2019s headquarters in Paulding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Secretary-Treasurer Tim Derck reported that despite rising costs, PPEC met its financial goals for 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Total margins exceeded $3.3 million, finishing 4.6% above budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Wholesale power costs from Buckeye Power increased 8.4% to 8.5 cents per kWh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 PPEC was able to hold off passing a Wholesale Power Cost Adjustment (WPCA) in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 233 new services were connected-a 14% increase, with 60% of growth in New Haven, IN.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 $2 million in capital credits was returned to over 23,000 current and former members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cManagement and employees did an outstanding job managing expenses, ensuring that we could continue investing in reliability and growth while keeping costs as low as possible,\u201d Derck said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President and CEO Randy Price emphasized the importance of collaboration within the co-op network to ensure continued success. He highlighted that 60-70% of every dollar collected goes toward wholesale power costs, with the remaining funds used to maintain 1,800 miles of line and over 46,000 poles across PPEC\u2019s seven-county service area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWithout these critical investments, we couldn\u2019t provide members with the 99.9% reliability they depend on,\u201d Price said. \u201cIf you mapped out all the power lines we maintain, it would stretch as far as a drive to Phoenix Arizona.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Price also addressed PPEC\u2019s fiber internet expansion, explaining that advanced technology will enhance electric service by improving monitoring capabilities and system reliability. \u201cBuilding the internet business on the investments already made in the plant will give members a better return on the $130 million infrastructure built over the past 90 years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Price closed by reflecting on PPEC\u2019s 90-year legacy, recognizing the members who serve with passion and integrity today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At this time, CFO Renee Hull joined Price to draw the 2025 Scholarship Winners, recognizing the exceptional students in our local communities. A total of $5,000 in scholarships were awarded during the meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The $500 scholarship winners drawn were as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lillian Wyatt, Elizabeth Meyer, Wesyn Ludwig, Morgan Hoersten, Evan Crosby, Destiny Pier, Leyna Nagel,  Nicholas Sinn, Allison Richman, Rose Turnwald<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A total of $1,000 in bill credits were drawn at random from those members who watched the meeting and left a comment. The winners were as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

$100 bill credit winners:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Darrilyn Lawrence, Alan & Tonya Gerschutz, Mark Braun<\/p>\n\n\n\n

$25 bill credit winners:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russell Rager, Taylor Willoughby, Sarah Heier, Tony Adams, Jerry Heitmeyer, Patty Sprague, Connie Dehnart, Kris Lantow, Nannette Grace, Don Springer, Patricia Gribble, Ashley Simon, John Smalley, Lisa Horstman, Kim Hohlbein, Shelley Million, Austin Mansfield, Linda McCain, Betty Ellerbrock, Sue Carr, Greg Messmann, Callie Stripe, Julie Schroeder, Angie Gibson, Renee Pyle, Shannon Knippen, Lore Ruhe, Glenda Ferris<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To view the annual meeting recording, visit www.ppec.coop\/2025-annual-meeting. Those wanting more information can call the office at 800-686-2357.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Paulding Putnam Electric Cooperative\u2019s (PPEC) 89th Annual Meeting of Members premiered on Facebook and YouTube at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":47331,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2230,6],"tags":[25203,25205,23172,25204,25206,5287,1995,25202,25200],"class_list":["post-47330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-community","category-community","tag-89th-annual-meeting","tag-alan-tonya-gerschutz","tag-bill-beckman","tag-darrilyn-lawrence","tag-mark-braun","tag-paulding-putnam-electric-co-op","tag-ppec","tag-steven-mcmichael","tag-william-dowler"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/PPEC-Board-Members-2025.png?fit=1016%2C593&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2YQd9-cjo","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-25 19:59:39","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47330"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47330\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47333,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47330\/revisions\/47333"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}