Waldorf, MD — Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative (SMECO) held its 81st Annual Meeting on August 29 at Middleton Hall in Waldorf and introduced its new board of directors and announced a big refund to members.
SMECO’s election was conducted by mail, and, for the first time, members could also vote electronically by casting their ballots online. More than 7,800 members voted: 6,560 voted by mail and 1,278 voted online. Election results were announced at the meeting.
Elected to three-year terms on SMECO’s board were, W. Michael Phipps in Calvert County; Gilbert O. Bowling, and Richard A. Winkler in Charles County; James A. Richards in Prince George’s County; and P. Scott White in St. Mary’s.
A bylaw amendment providing that a person’s capital credits can be used to offset
arrearages was also included on this year’s ballot, and it passed.
SMECO’s president and CEO, Austin J. Slater, Jr., said that SMECO’s margins for 2018 totaled more than $27 million, and all of those funds were allocated to members’ capital credit accounts. He also said that SMECO will be refunding more than $5 million of the cooperative’s margins to members this year. “When SMECO issues capital credit refunds to members, we are making good on a basic co-op principle. We pass on savings to members because they share the financial responsibility and the financial rewards of the co-op.”