As we enter this holiday season, we often think about the traditions we honor and the celebrations we enjoy with family and friends. Your cooperative is no different. We celebrate our 83-year tradition of providing reliable and affordable electricity to our members.

This long tradition was made possible by the outstanding men and women who have faithfully worked for the cooperative throughout our history and is carried on by the dedicated employees who serve you today. This was reflected in the recent American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) survey of Pee Dee Electric members. Members gave the cooperative a satisfaction score of 88 in our most recent survey. Our score is comparable to well-known companies such as Chick-fil-A, Amazon and Apple. That is certainly something to celebrate!

Pee Dee Electric continues our tradition of providing reliable electric service by investing in our distribution system through the construction of new substations and power lines, upgrading existing power lines and maintaining our right-of-ways. The cooperative continues to utilize new technologies, such as our Automated Meter Infrastructure (AMI) system, Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition system, data analytics, and other technologies to improve reliability.

Another important tradition at Pee Dee Electric is supporting the communities we serve. Recently, we celebrated our local educators by awarding nine Bright Idea grants totaling over $15,000 to dedicated teachers, enabling them to use new and innovative teaching techniques in the classroom. Through the generosity of cooperative members allowing us to round-up power bills each month, Pee Dee Electric celebrates our local non-profit organizations that provide vital services to our communities through the Care to Share Program. Over $106,000 in Care to Share grants have been distributed to these outstanding organizations during the past year.

As you enter this season of traditions and celebrations, I urge you to focus on the important things in your life – faith, family and friends. It is so easy to get caught up in the “busyness” of the season that we don’t allow ourselves to take the time to truly enjoy the most important parts of our lives. Yes — life can be difficult at times. Through the birth of Jesus, we are given many wonderful gifts, one of which is hope. Hope gets us through the difficult times. True hope is found in the tiny manger in Bethlehem — hope for healing, comfort, peace, forgiveness, renewed faith — and the list goes on and on. I pray this Christmas season will be full of wonderful traditions, fun celebrations and hope fulfilled!!

From the Board of Directors and employees of Pee Dee Electric, we wish you a very happy and joyful Holiday Season!!!