4 SOUTH CAROLINA LIVING | APRIL 2013 | SCLIVING.COOp

Co-opConnection

Making Life BetterHow electricity changed women’s lives

President and CEOE. LeRoy “Toy” Nettles Jr.

Chairman, Board of TrusteesJames A. Goodson

TrusteesJule Conner

Preston Gainey

David Howell

Louise Kelley

Hamer Parnell

Lee C. White

W. F. Rogers

LaShon Sellers

Don Teal

Pat Thomas-Toney

Office Hours8 a.m.–5 p.m. Monday–Friday

Corporate Headquarters1355 East McIver RoadPO Box 491Darlington, SC 29540

District Office 1811 North 501 BypassMarion, SC

Report Power Outage Toll-Free (866) 747-0060 (843) 665-4070

WebsitePeeDeeElectric.com

Co-op News Editor Tom Kinard

I dId not gRow uP wIthout the benefits of electricity, but I’ve heard many people, especially ladies, talk about how

Pee Dee Electric brought freedom and convenience to their lives. The physical labor involved in raising a family, keeping house, cooking meals and washing clothes is hard to comprehend until you hear, firsthand, how wives and mothers did it.

Until the late 1930s, early in the morning the menfolk would eat a hearty breakfast started by the woman or women of the house long before the men arose. They would put on clean clothes the women had hand-washed on wash day, usually Mondays. Then the men went to work in the fields. They labored, raising tobacco or cotton and many other things they urged from the ground.

At noon, the men returned to the house where, after washing the dishes and maybe the wooden floors, the ladies had prepared dinner. Not the typical lunch many of us eat, salads, etc., but meat, potatoes and other vegetables and homemade bread. This meal was shared with all the “hands.”

It was a lot to prepare. Afterwards, it was back to the fields for the men and more cleaning for the women.

About sundown, another big meal for daddy and the boys as they came in tired and famished, another round of boiling water to wash the dishes with handmade soap and then a short evening of mending clothes by the light of kerosene lamps and thinking about picking beans the next day as the seemingly endless routine of drudgery and toil continued.

Then came electricity. Pee Dee Electric was formed in 1939 and began serving the region with reliable and affordable energy. It became a time of tools, appliances and devices—a time of electric pumps bringing water inside the house instead of having to hand-carry buckets, a time of electric lights aiding mending mothers and school kids doing their lessons, a time of cooking on an electric stove instead of having to cut kindling and oak quarters to feed a hungry wood stove.

I’ve heard more than one person say they could never have imagined all the life-changing experiences that electricity brought. I imagine that went double for the ladies.

Pee Dee Electric Cooperative is happy to have such a wonderful heritage. We’re glad to provide the electricity you need and always try to help you save on your energy bill. Please read this and every copy of South Carolina Living, it’s chock full of interesting articles and money-saving ideas.

E. LeRoy “Toy” Nettles Jr.President and Chief Executive Officer

Mondays were wash days. Clothes were boiled, scrubbed on washboards using handmade lye soap, then “blued” or bleached and hung on clothes lines to dry. Tuesdays were ironing days using seven-pound irons heated on a wood stove.

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News

JessIcA MAson (L), VP/Accounting at Pee Dee Electric Cooperative, has received the 2013 B.W. Ingram Young Alumnus Award from Francis Marion University. Mason graduated with a BS in Accounting in 2002 and a Master of Business Administration in 2006. Married and the mother of three children, Jessica has been with PDEC for 10 years.

Also receiving awards were South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson (center), Outstanding Alumnus; Chad Burgess (right), Professional Industry Achievement Award in Public Service and Law; and Dr. Rainey Knight (not pictured), Professional Industry Achievement Award in Education and Arts.

PDEC Vice-President Wins FMU Alumnus Award

WIRE offers $2,500 Scholarship for WomenDeadline June 3APPLIcAtIons ARe beIng taken for a $2,500 scholarship for women awarded annually by WIRE, a community service organization affiliated with electric co-ops in South Carolina.

The WIRE Jenny Ballard Opportunity Scholarship is awarded to a woman who may not have been able to attend college when she graduated from high school but now wants to further her education. WIRE (Women Involved in Rural Electrification) awards the scholarship based on financial need and personal goals.

Applicants must:

f be a member of a South Carolina electric co-op

f have graduated from high school or earned her GED at least 10 years ago

f be accepted into an accredited S.C. college or university, and

f demonstrate financial need and personal goals.

Women who have previously obtained a four-year college degree are not eligible. Applicants may have previously earned a two-year degree or some college credits. The scholarship, which can be used for the fall 2013 or spring 2014 semesters, will be paid jointly to the winner and her college of choice.

Applications are available at PeeDeeElectric.com. The deadline to apply is June 3. Mail or fax the application to WIRE Scholarship Committee, Attention: Bobbie Cook, Aiken Electric Cooperative, Inc., P.O. Box 417, Aiken, SC 29802, Fax (803) 641-8310.

Wanna Save Money?Think spray foam insulation

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I heard exhaust fans waste energy. True? Not necessarily. Running bathroom exhaust fans while showering and a few minutes afterward to rid the room of steam will help control humidity in your home. Using a kitchen exhaust fan pulls out odors and dirty air from cooking. Run the fans only until the steam or odor clears. Otherwise, you’ll exhaust clean, heated or air-conditioned air to the outdoors.

What To Do If The Lights Go Out

uCheck your circuit breakers or fuses. If no breaker is tripped or fuse is blown, the problem may be in the connection between our wires and your home. Call us toll free (866) 747-0060 or (843) 665-4070. We’re here for you 24/7.

uTo safeguard your equipment and appliances and to ease the initial load when power is restored, turn off or unplug stoves, ovens, televisions, DVD players, stereos, computers and appliances that use electric motors such as air conditioners. Leave a light on so you know when the power is restored.

uKeep refrigerator and freezer doors closed. These appliances are well insulated, so food will keep for hours if opening the door is kept to a minimum.

uUse a flashlight or battery-powered lantern for light. Use care when burning candles; open flames are a dangerous fire hazard.

uAlways have a first aid kit handy.

Co-op News EXTRA

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Answers to your questions

TOM

KINA

RD

How can I save energy on my washer, dryer, refrigerator or freezer?

APPLIAnces use About 13 percent of your home’s energy. If they have energy-saving settings, use them (see above). If they’re near voting age, consider replacing them with new, Energy Star models. Remember, if you replace your refrigerator and put the old one in the garage, you won’t save any energy. It usually costs $156 a year to power the garage “drink and vegetable cooler.”

Send questions to: tkinard@PeeDeeElectric.com or our Facebook page.

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PromisePromiseIto provide safe and reliable electricity toall our membersLarry RhodesServiceman

I

Electricity continues to be a critical part of our everyday lives. Fortunately, while the price of just about everything seems to be going up, the price of electricity remains affordable.

Taken your family to the movies lately? After you add up the price of admission

and snacks, a family of four can spend close to $50 at the theatre. With the value of electricity, you can power your entertainment center for an entire year for less than one night at the movies. And that includes the energy

needed to make your own popcorn in the microwave!

The average size of houses has increased dramatically since the 1970s. Back then, homes were around 1,300 square feet. Today they’re closer to 2,200 square feet.

That means more energy is needed for heating, cooling and powering the house. When you’re reminded to cut off the lights in any room they are not being used or be sure to change your air filter each month,

we’re really telling you how to save money on your energy bill.

Pee Dee Electric has an energy bill, too. The more you use, the more we have to pay to be able to provide your needs. When you cut back, we save energy and our bill goes down just like yours.

Send me an energy tip. If I use it, you’ll get a $25 gift card.

jsingletary@Peedee electric.com

thIeves ARe AtteMPtIng

to get credit card information from electric co-op members in several Midwestern states. They pose as someone renewing the co-op member’s magazine subscription.

A co-op in Ohio was recently alerted by a member about an unsolicited call she received stating her subscription to her co-op magazine had expired. The unidentified caller offered to renew her subscription by phone if she provided a credit card number and other personal information.

The member was aware she receives the magazine as a benefit of her co-op membership and will

always get it as long as she remains a member. She provided the crook no information. When she asked for a name and a return phone number, the potential scammer hung up.

Pee Dee Electric has not heard of this happening in our area, but we want to let you know this type of scam could raise its head. Be on the alert. Hang up on any unsolicited caller who asks for a credit card number or other personal information.

South Carolina Living is a benefit of membership and you do not need to renew your subscription. This magazine contains ways to save energy and money. Please use it each month.

Beware of Magazine Scam Looking for Your ID

WIRE Quarterly MeetingThursday, May 16

6:00 P.M.Contact Page Chestnut

pchestnut@PeeDeeElectric.com

Jeff SingletaryPDEC ENERgy

ExPERT

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By Field editor

Walter allread

It wAs A LAboR oF Love,

assembly-line style, when about 30 WIRE volunteers from co-ops across South Carolina gathered to stuff Co-op Closet bags full of emergency supplies for displaced elderly citizens.

WIRE (Women Involved in Rural Electrification) members of the co-op community outreach organization came together at The Electric Cooperatives of South Carolina Inc. (ECSC) in Cayce, responding to a request from S.C. Lieu-tenant Governor Glenn F. McConnell and the South Carolina Office on Aging.

The officials determined that elderly citizens too often are forgotten when group or nursing homes are ordered closed for safety or health violations, according to ECSC’s Peggy Dantzler, coordinator of the Co-op Closet project. “The Lieutenant Governor felt the cooperatives could

help, and WIRE is a natural extension of the co-ops’ community commitment,” she notes.

Writing to ECSC CEO

Mike Couick, the Lieutenant Governor said WIRE helped meet a pressing need. “The ‘Co-op Closet,’ full of emergency relocation bags, gives hope to many South Carolinians—some of whom may have lived next door or down the street from you or me. The continued generosity of the WIRE women gives me hope that South Carolinians will not let a call for help go unanswered.”

The bags are kept at the Office on Aging, which determines who needs assistance around the state. As Dantzler notes, some recipients are destitute when they leave their group or nursing home, often the only home they’ve known for years. “They have nothing,” she says.

Dantzler says the bags—and the compassion of strangers—often astound the elderly recipients. “When they’re told it’s theirs to keep, they’re just stunned.”

WIRE Comforts Displaced Elderly Citizens When the

Lights Came On

In 1939, the lights came on in the rural part of the Pee Dee Region. Next year, Pee Dee Electric Cooperative will celebrate 75 years of providing reliable and affordable electric service. As a PDEC member, we need your help to fully celebrate the accomplishments made by the blessings of electricity.

Please send us the story of your recollection or what your parents or grandparents told you about when the lights came on at your home, school or church. We’ll feature these exciting and heartwarming tales in the pages of South Carolina Living during 2014.

Please send your story to tkinard@PeeDeeElectric.com or Tom Kinard, PDEC,

P.O. Box 491, Darlington, SC 29540

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COLDDoes taking a shower

leave you in the COLD?

Grab a Rebate & stay warm with H2O Select®!

*Electric water heater must meet qualifying requirements.

Install a new high-efficiency electric water heater*and get cash back!

• $200 rebate on a 50-79 gallon water heater

• $250 rebate on an 80+ gallon water heater

For details, visit PeeDeeElectric.com.