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Shenandoah Valley Electric Cooperative’s Expansion
to Create New Opportunities
Shenandoah Valley Electric Cooperative is planning to
increase its service area and customer base by approximately
130% within the next year. The expansion will occur as SVEC
acquires roughly half of the Virginia service area, assets
and customers of Potomac Edison (PE), a subsidiary of
Pennsylvania-based Allegheny Energy. SVEC will serve the
customers located in Page County, the City of Winchester,
and portions of Warren, Frederick and Highland counties.
The other half of PE’s customers will be served by
Rappahannock Electric Cooperative.
“Acquiring the service area and assets of Potomac Edison
will provide many benefits for our existing members, our
future members, and the communities we serve,” said Myron
Rummel, SVEC’s President and CEO. “PE’s existing customers
will benefit from their ownership in the Cooperative. Our
member/owners, both existing and those soon to be served
by SVEC, will enjoy greater rate stability, and many business
functions currently being performed out-of-state will be
done locally.”
PE’s administrative activities such as customer service,
accounting, a portion of the engineering functions, human
resource management, technical maintenance, and
communications are currently performed by its parent company
in Pennsylvania. Those activities will now be performed
locally. The exact number and types of jobs are still being
determined, but there should be additional opportunities for
those seeking a career in the utility industry.
“Expanding into the current Potomac Edison service area is
a great opportunity,” added Rummel. “The new area is a
natural fit for us. In many cases, we can serve the additional
customers with the systems we already have in place, which
will ultimately lower the per-customer cost for our members.
Plus, expanding the not-for-profit cooperative business model
means money currently flowing out-of-state to PE’s parent
company will remain in Virginia and be returned to all of our
existing and new members.”
“We are pleased to provide a locally-owned and operated means
of providing electric service in these new areas,” continued
Rummel. “If this wasn’t good for everyone involved, we
wouldn’t be doing it.”
Chartered in 1936, SVEC serves more than 39,000 member/owners
in the counties of Augusta, Rockingham, and Shenandoah in
Virginia and Hardy County in West Virginia. Shenandoah
Valley Electric Cooperative was the first electric
cooperative chartered in Virginia.
SVEC is committed to providing the highest level of service
to its existing members, and those who will be joining the
Cooperative.
Related News Articles
Northern VA Daily article of 5/13/09 ( 13 KB)
Staunton News Leader article of 5/13/09 ( 16 KB)
Winchester Star article of 5/13/09 ( 560 KB)
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