If you have lived here long, you know weather can humble you in a hurry.
This year brought high winds, heavy rain, lightning and tornado warnings. Several tornadoes touched down in PCEC’s service area, including one near my home.
I live in eastern Excelsior Springs, where an EF-1 tornado touched down near my house on May 18. My property had downed limbs, but some neighbors lost trees.
What stood out was that my power blinked only once. It stayed on for my neighbors, too. Looking at snapped and uprooted trees, you realize that is no small thing.
Members have noticed that nearby utilities, sometimes across the road, have not fared as well during the same storms. One example came June 13, when a storm swept through the Platte City area. Afterward, online outage reports showed another electric utility serving Platte City had 78% of its customers without power. In the surrounding rural areas served by PCEC, 140 members were without power—about 3.5% of our Platte City-area membership.
That performance does not happen by accident. Over the past decade, our leadership team, with the board’s support, has invested in strengthening and modernizing PCEC’s electric system. As board president and someone privileged to serve this cooperative for 35 years, I am proud to see those decisions paying off.
Right-of-way maintenance is an important part of that work. Keeping vegetation clear helps prevent outages and lets crews restore power more safely and quickly when damage occurs.
Our engineering team has made the system more flexible. In most areas, electricity can be rerouted to isolate damage and restore power to many members while repairs continue. These behind-the-scenes investments make a meaningful difference during severe weather.
Even the best system still depends on people. When outages occur, our linemen respond as quickly and safely as possible, supported by dispatchers and employees across the co-op. Storm restoration means long hours, difficult conditions and dangerous work. I am grateful for their skill, dedication and pride in serving our members.
We cannot control the weather or prevent every outage. We can keep preparing by maintaining rights-of-way, modernizing the system and supporting the people who keep the lights on.
As a member and board president, I am proud that years of careful planning are making a real difference when our communities need us most. I am thankful for the trust our members place in PCEC, and we will keep working every day to earn it.
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