Middle Tennessee Electric (MTE) leadership updated cooperative members about the status of the organization and answered questions during its livestreamed Annual Meeting Saturday, Aug. 26.
Board Chairman Mike Woods, CEO Chris Jones and various MTE team members reflected on what 2022 looked like, how the organization has prioritized responding to members’ evolving needs and what lies ahead for the cooperative.
“We’re always working on what we need to do today to answer the changing environment for tomorrow,” Woods said. “Your board of directors is very much concerned about our membership, concerned about you, and they’re always thinking about what’s best for our members.”
After 10 years of service as chair, Woods announced his decision to step down as chairman following the Annual Meeting.
“Middle Tennessee Electric is tremendously grateful to Chairman Woods for his dedication to the cooperative and its members,” said Jones. “His leadership has made a positive impact on our cooperative, and we wish him all the best during his next chapter. We are thankful he will continue his service to the co-op as a board member.”
During the Annual Meeting, MTE reflected on a year that presented challenges for both the organization and the communities it serves, including:
- Rallying around the Readyville community following the tornado that hit April 1, fully restoring power to the area within 18 hours and coordinating employee clean-up efforts with more than 100 MTE volunteers.
- Dealing with the requirement from TVA last December to perform rolling blackouts. Jones interviewed TVA CEO, Jeff Lyash, to discuss the controlled outages and hear about steps the organization has taken to prevent that situation from arising in the future.
- Opening new facilities at the Central Office in Murfreesboro that will benefit employees and members.
- Rolling out customizable options for members, myEnergyPlan, which allows members to customize a plan that best fits their lifestyle regarding energy usage and billing preferences. New enhancements to the myMTE mobile app also enable members to learn more about their energy usage and take steps to reduce energy consumption.
“We’ve made lots of investments to improve our technology and to focus on responsiveness, because we have learned from the information we gather through surveys and from our members that’s what our members want,” Jones said. “We want to push to higher levels of member satisfaction, so what you are seeing now is a result of research and gathering information, but at the end of the day, we’re simply working hard to satisfy the membership.”
Following this update, a Q&A session was conducted and questions from members were answered live. Members inquired about energy efficiency, controlled outages, rates, electric vehicles, broadband and more.
During this session, United Communications President and CEO William Bradford announced the organization’s plans to expand its fiber internet service to an additional 77,000 MTE members in Murfreesboro. A series of multi-year infrastructure projects will create 1,400 route miles of new fiber-optic lines to deliver internet services to homes and businesses in the area.
Per the cooperative’s bylaws, the election results for four seats on the Board of Directors were announced during the Annual Meeting. Four members were re-elected: Steve Seger – Williamson County; Will Jordan – Rutherford County; Ross Bradley– Rutherford County; and Hal Bone – Wilson County. The proposed Bylaws Amendment to Articles VIII, IX, XIII and XIV were approved by the membership.
MTE board members serve staggered three-year terms, and the Nominating Committee is responsible for nominating next year’s Board of Directors candidates. The 2024 Nominating Committee election resulted in the appointment of Jessica Davey, Karen Paris and Juanita Patton from District 1 – Williamson County; Thomas “Teb” Batey, Jamey Faulkner, Danny Sapp and Richard Stone from District 2 – Rutherford County; Jeanne Melton from District 3 – Cannon County; and Zachary Butler, Ken Howell and Quintin Smith from District 4 – Wilson County.
In an organizational meeting following the Annual Meeting, the board elected Steve Seger of Williamson County to take over as chair, Jim Mills of Wilson County as vice chair and Vanessa Hickman of Wilson County as secretary-treasurer.
To watch the Annual Meeting video, visit mte.com/AnnualMeeting.