[Watchdogs] PEC's job, An Organization Chart of PEC

Mon Nov 1 10:28:57 CDT 2010

Paul, Sheila,

I recently called and asked for that very thing.  The poor girl had to ask a dozen people if they could send out things like that.  Finally, she stated 
she would have to call me back.  To her credit, she did, stating that they need a written request for open record documents like that.  You can
either write a letter to PEC or email a request to openrecords at peci.com with your name and address as well as which documents you'd like to
receive.  

I made my request 11 days ago and I haven't seen it as yet.  If and when I do, I'll be happy to scan it and send it to you.

Tim Andrews
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Paul Langston 
  To: Sheila / David Biedermann ; PEC Watchdogs 
  Sent: Saturday, October 30, 2010 11:57 AM
  Subject: Re: [Watchdogs] PEC's job, An Organization Chart of PEC

  Dear Sheila:  Some years ago, I asked for an Organization Chart.  They sent me a sheet that was illegible and colored over with green dye.  I could just make out that every person on the sheet was a boss.  In short, all Chiefs and no Indians.

  I doubt that you or anyone else is going to get a clear picture of who ranks  over anyone else.  There is NO organization.

  Regards,   Paul Langston   830-598-1322 
    ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: Sheila / David Biedermann 
    To: TEXAS66 at aol.com ; mlmoden at gmail.com 
    Cc: watchdogs at pec4u.org 
    Sent: Friday, October 29, 2010 10:02 PM
    Subject: Re: [Watchdogs] PEC's job

    Personally, I would like to see an organization chart with duties and responsibilities stated of everyone at every level.  I would bet you could cut off the top half of the expenditures and the operation would not be affected except for saving the salaries.

    When is the Coop going to close the payment locations all over the territory? There is the US mail and there are HEBs where bills can be paid.

    This whole operation dates back to LBJ and all of his crocked cronies.

    David Biedermann

    From: watchdogs-bounces at pec4u.org [mailto:watchdogs-bounces at pec4u.org] On Behalf Of TEXAS66 at aol.com
    Sent: Friday, October 29, 2010 9:31 PM
    To: mlmoden at gmail.com
    Cc: watchdogs at pec4u.org
    Subject: Re: [Watchdogs] PEC's job

    Thank you, Merle.  Were the PEC a for-profit entity and were the PEC generating a profit from which dividends were being paid to the owners, I wouldn't be as concerned about some of the extraneous activities the PEC is engaging in.  But, it's not.  For the 4-1/2 years or so I have been driving over to Johnson City to observe the board and its predecessors, I have never heard the term "competition" whereas I have frequently heard "franchised monopoly".  I submit that the PEC IS in competition, even if the board doesn't seem to realize it.  When other much-smaller Co-Ops can provide the same services that PEC does for a lesser cost, I wonder if anybody in-charge actually realizes that it is a business.  As a very minor owner of the business, I'd sort of like to ask, "What are you folks doing for us, your employers and shareholders?"

    I keep hearing scuttlebutt from some of our members about trying to break up the PEC and form smaller, more responsive Co-Ops.  I don't think that is a reasonable solution, but it reflects some of the anxiety out there.  And every time I hear of some new plan to "green-up" PEC activities or operations, as an old corporate manager I have to ask, "Has anybody run the overall economics of that plan?"  "What does it really cost and what are the measurable returns to the owners?"   Sure, I can pick at the structure and procedures of the board, but I'd really rather see some demonstrated interest by the directors in the operations of the company.  I'm naive enough to think that's why they were elected.

    I appreciate your observations, and those of our colleagues.

    Regards, 

    Ken Rigsbee         

    In a message dated 10/29/2010 5:09:06 P.M. Central Daylight Time, mlmoden at gmail.com writes:

      Ken:

      While obviously not in a competitive environment, we do have the ability to compare our financial performance with our peer group, i.e., electric cooperatives in the U.S. with 100,000 or more members. As the Navigant Report pointed out, the PEC's total cost per member compares unfavorably with our peer group, despite the fact that our purchased power costs are significantly lower.

      PEC has not operated, nor is it operating, under the fundamental principle that incurred expenses are "reasonable and necessary" to provide electric service.  One needs to cite but one example of this failure -- Envision Software.  PEC members through their Board and management spent over $70 million on this debacle.  While this is a particularly egregious failure, there are many expenditures at the PEC today that are not "reasonable and necessary" to provide electric service.  PEC is being managed as if it were a for-profit corporation with the management, with the acquiescence of the PEC Board, bent on enriching itself at the expense of the members.

      Until there is a serious effort by the Board and management to squeeze-out unnecessary expenditures, we will make no progress in providing electricity at the lowest possible cost.  Many of these unnecessary expenditures have been identified and brought to the attention of the PEC Board and management.  There appears to be no particular interest in addressing them.

Mr. Merle L. Moden1111 Thompson Ranch RoadWimberley, Texas 78676-6129(512)847-1335
      On 10/28/2010 11:07 AM, TEXAS66 at aol.com wrote: 

      Watchdogs:  As only one Member/owner (with 2 meters) of the PEC, I am concerned that our board is not acting in the interests of its Member/owners.  When each of us pays rates higher than members of 5 of the other Co Ops who buy their electricity from the LCRA, I think there is a problem with the carrying out of PEC’s principle mission.  I don’t understand why PEC, as solely a distribution company, pays rebates to our Members for more efficient appliances.  That is inconsistent with the mission and purpose of the PEC.  I don’t understand why at least one director has floated a draft for a “Distributed Generation Pilot Project”.  The PEC’s job is to buy electricity – not generate it – at the lowest possible cost, and to distribute and deliver it to its owners in the most efficient manner possible.  Have we forgotten what happened the last time the board or GM established a subsidiary to generate electricity?  That didn’t turn out well.  And I sure don’t understand why folks should encourage the PEC’s incorporation of another government boondoggle, appearing to provide free money for efficiencies.  

      Our cooperative is a business organization.  It is not a government agency or an educational institution.  It is not a charitable institution.  The directors of the PEC are charged with making sound business decisions on behalf of the Member/owners of the company.  Rather than measure performance by dollars returned on dollars invested, a cooperative should measure its performance by value of service provided for the cost to members.  That measurement ought to be comparable to everybody else who provides the same service.  Folks, the PEC is not favorably comparable (we call that being competitive).  In my opinion, unless and until the PEC becomes favorably comparable, the PEC should not be in any other business than providing its Members electricity at the lowest possible cost.

      One Member’s opinion.

      Ken Rigsbee  

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