In June, the Hancock-Wood Electric Cooperative board of trustees held the cooperative’s 88th Annual Meeting of the members. I am happy to report the cooperative continues to maintain our positive financial standing and has completed several goals over the past year, while also providing safe and reliable electricity to our membership.
Safety programs
Every year, Hancock-Wood evaluates its safety programs, establishes new objectives, and records these goals in our Safety Improvement Plan, or SIP. The SIP is reviewed and approved by your board of trustees. I’m happy to report the Hancock-Wood team did an amazing job completing the 2025 SIP goals. Those objectives included:
- Battery bank compliance at substations and remote locations.
- Radio procedures and responsibilities when dispatcher is not present.
- Create operational manual for each substation
Operations and Maintenance:
The cooperative’s industry leading outage performance can be tied directly to effective operations and maintenance procedures. During 2025, the operations department
- Tested 2,018 meters
- Inspected 15,826 poles
- Replaced 214 obsolete poles
- Inspected 633 miles of overhead line
- Contracted tree trimming for 792 miles of overhead line
Construction:
Along with proper O&M procedures to reduce outages, the operations and engineering departments continue to upgrade and replace facilities utilized to provide our members with electric service. A combination of Hancock-Wood and contract crews were utilized to complete the 2025 rebuild program. Approximately 19 miles of old and obsolete overhead distribution lines were replaced for $1.6M.
2026 Board Election-photos
2026 Board Election Results are:
District 2 Bill Kale
District 7 Charles Beagle
District 9 Marcus Muster
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