The Power of Connections

CHAPTER THREE

OPERATING WITH INTEGRITY

Members first. Every day. That’s the power of membership. Not-for-profit electric cooperatives deliver energy to members at the cost of service; this differs from investor owned utilities that distribute profits to investors, not necessarily to those it serves. I ntegrity is a core value that extends to every aspect of the cooperative’s business operations. CREC line workers go to great lengths to ensure electricity is delivered to homes, businesses, and communities. They spend thousands of hours braving the elements to bring safe, reliable power to members. In the early 2000s, line workers didn’t have access to the type of bucket trucks, diggers, and other heavy equipment the cooperative has today, so they had to climb a lot of poles themselves. Just getting to jobs was sometimes a challenge. Workers carried four or five bulky binders with paper maps to find locations. Because jobs take them all over CREC’s system, line workers can easily be on a different job every day or work the same job for two months. The work is always changing and often complicated. And in the middle of any job, a storm can pop up and throw a twist into everything. Perspective from the Trenches . . . Literally Clint Courtney, who joined CREC as an apprentice lineman in 2000, understands and embraces the challenge of cooperative operations. Whether he’s perched sixty feet in the air working on a line extension or installing underground wire to connect a new subdivision, he says the role is well suited to his personality and preferred work style. “I enjoy working outdoors and could never imagine myself being confined to an office or working in a factory,” says Courtney, whose current role involves overseeing crew chiefs of linemen.

Climbing poles to make repairs was the norm until CREC added equipment such as bucket trucks to its vehicle fleet. Pictured is Jason Doherty.

Throughout his career at CREC, Courtney has experienced a significant evolution in the tools and technologies that linemen use in the field. Laptop computers now

34 Cuivre River Electric Cooperative