Wireside Chat

On Sept. 9, 2023, Southwestern Electric Cooperative held its 85th Annual Meeting of Members outside the Vandalia Statehouse. In this month's podcast, hear the addresses from CEO Bobby Williams and Board President Ann Schwarm in their entirety.

It's that time again — the 85th Annual Meeting of Members is next month. This year, we're holding the event outside the historic Vandalia Statehouse in Fayette County. SWECI Vice President of Member Services Susan File makes a return appearance on the podcast to detail the day's events, what's new, what's familiar, and everything you need to know about this year's annual meeting.

A few months ago, we told you about the six local high school students who attended the Illinois Electric and Telephone Cooperatives Youth Day in Springfield, Illinois. In conjunction with that event, two of those area students were chosen to attend the NRECA Electric Cooperative Youth Tour in Washington, D.C. Those students, South Central High School's Boston Hails and Highland High School's Kyli...

Cooperatives like Southwestern Electric are guided by seven cooperative principles. That doesn't mean such pillars are limited to cooperatives, though. In this month's episode, we explore the seventh cooperative principle, concern for community, through the lens of Southwestern Electric's partnership with Anderson Healthcare at the system's new Goshen Campus development.

When an outage occurs, it takes a village — our Southwestern Electric village, specifically — to get your lights back on. Southwestern Chief Operating Officer Marvin Ayala joins the podcast to detail all the moving parts that set in motion when an outage strikes, and how each of them contributes to the larger goal of restoring power as quick and safely as possible.

Southwestern Electric Cooperative recently sponsored six local high school students' participation in a Youth Day event in Springfield, Illinois. Hear more about the day — and even hear parts of the day itself, by way of audio clips from the event — in this month's episode.

DeMoulin Brothers and Company has a unique history rooted in its early manufacturing of some of the most bizarre and fascinating lodge initiation paraphernalia and regalia in the country. Equally fascinating is the DeMoulin Museum, which tells the history of the Greenville-based factory. In this episode, museum curator John Goldsmith talks about the museum's origins, its aim and how Southwestern E...

For better or worse, technology has become a nearly indispensible part of our day to day lives. In this episode of the podcast, host Nathan Grimm details all the ways in which the cooperative utilizes technology to keep Southwestern Electric members informed and empowered with their electric service.

There are a lot of cool things happening in our own Southwestern Electric backyard, and Elaine McNamara is the person in the know. The director of the Greenville Chamber of Commerce and Greenville University SMART Center joins the show to discuss the origins of the SMART Center renovation, new life being breathed into the city's downtown and what's next for Greenville.

December is a time to look back at the year that was, while also looking ahead to the year to come. Media Specialist Nathan Grimm does a bit of both in this year-end wrap-up episode.

It's cliche, but so are the holidays. So, with Thanksgiving on the horizon, the November episode asks a simple question: Why are you thankful to work at an electric cooperative?

The way we communicate — as a cooperative to our members, and simply as humans to each other — has perhaps never been more important. SWECI Vice President of Communications Joe Richardson joins the podcast to talk about his job, the ways he's seen it change and how he approaches communicating complex subjects to our membership, among other topics.

Lower temperatures bring higher electric bills. Ahead of the cold winter months, SWECI Billing Manager Veronica Forbis joins the podcast to talk about her department's auto-pay feature, LIHEAP assistance, personalized billing options and more.

The 84th Annual Meeting of the Members is upon us. SWECI Vice President of Member Services Susan File joins the show to talk about all aspects of the annual meeting, including how this year's meeting will be different from those of recent years.

Solar cogeneration is increasingly popular among electric cooperative members. Southwestern Electric Energy Manager Julie Lowe joins the show to discuss cogeneration, its growing popularity, what roadblocks still exist for members and where she sees cogeneration — solar and otherwise — going in the future.

The southwestern Illinois region is, slowly, emerging from the grip of the COVID-19 pandemic. SWECI Vice President of Business Development and Marketing Andrew Jones discusses what he's seeing in the local economy, and society in general, as we head into the summer of 2022.

The power goes out. What now? Southwestern Electric CEO Bobby Williams takes us behind the scenes of an outage, including the difficult decisions and challenges that come up, and how SWECI is working to continue improving outage response mechanisms moving forward.

With gas prices soaring, more consumers may begin looking to electric vehicles as an alternative. In this episode, SWECI Energy Manager Julie Lowe discusses the state of the EV market, where it's headed and the role the cooperative is playing to promote its growth in southwestern Illinois.

Host and Southwestern Electric Media Specialist Nathan Grimm is ready to talk all things related to the southwestern Illinois electric cooperative. From outages to electric vehicles to Capital Credits and everything in between, we're delivering you, the members, the information you need to know about your service!