16
Joshua WinslowCEO/General Manager
FROM YOUR GENERAL MANAGER
Your electric cooperative was founded 80 years ago by friends and
neighbors who came together for the common purpose of making
their lives better. Despite wars, economic upheaval, and unprecedented
growth, Brunswick Electric has never broken with that tradition. Serving
our communities by providing the most reliable electricity at the lowest
possible cost is our mission, and one that requires dedication, expertise,
and a constant eye on what’s possible. Technological advances and an
ever-evolving industry can change how we serve you, but never why. Our
purpose is to do the best job we can for you, period.
On the next page you’ll see the values that guide our actions, and the key
performance indicators that help us measure our success. We believe in
setting high standards and monitoring the metrics that tell us how we’re
doing, so we know what’s working, and what we need to change. Next
you’ll see an overview of some of the programs and services designed to
help you manage your energy use. Helping you lower your bill matters
to us. For example, last year we loaned nearly $1.5 million to members
for projects to help them make their homes more efficient, and as a side
benefit, that money helped our local economy. There’s also a section that
explains the different ways we work to keep reliability up, and control costs.
We’re proud that our service reliability uptime averaged 99.99412% in 2018,
and that we installed 2,426 new services last year. Your cooperative also
launched a new user interface for our Advanced Metering Infrastructure,
which will improve efficiency and communication, and we redesigned the
fiber network that supports substations and offices in order to improve
performance and resiliency. We implemented a next generation endpoint
security for enhanced cybersecurity as well. These are just a few of the
system highlights included in this report. And as always, we maintained the
superior bond and safety ratings that help save you money, and performed
the planning, building and maintenance that ensure reliability.
As we move into the next decade, know that you can count on us to be on
the cutting edge of technology, in ways that benefit our membership. Our
goals are fewer outages, faster response times, better communication,
more ways to control costs, and additional programs and services that
make your life better. A lot has changed in 80 years, but our mission
certainly hasn’t, and you can count on that.
2 BEMC 2018 YEAR IN REVIEW
OUR STANDARDS
OUR VALUES | GUIDE OUR ACTIONS
Safety – The safety of our employees, our members and the public is
paramount. This includes our commitment to keeping our members’
information safe from cyber threats, and our focus on sustainable practices
that protect our environment.
Service – Service goes deeper than just providing energy at the lowest
possible cost. It means finding innovative means to meet our members’
needs, giving individual attention and surpassing our members’ expectations
with respect in every interaction.
Stewardship – As a member-owned cooperative, we have been entrusted
with the responsible management of our members’ resources. Maintaining
a favorable equity position and bond rating allows us to keep operating at
the lowest possible cost. Efficiencies in all our processes keep costs low
and that value is returned to the membership.
KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS | MEASURE THE SUCCESS OF OUR ACTIONS
STATEWIDE LEADERSHIP IN:
Customer Satisfaction – American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI)
and member surveys
Safety – All Injury Incident Rate and Days Away Incident Rate, as measured
by OSHA
Reliability – System Average Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI) and
System Average Interruption Frequency Index (SAIFI)
Efficiency – Line loss, changes in controllable costs, and write-offs and
error corrections
Risk Management – Current Ratio, Equity as a Percentage of Total Assets,
and Debt Service Coverage
Oversight – Bond Rating and audit opinion and adjustments
BEMC 2018 YEAR IN REVIEW 3
PROGRAMS AND SERVICES
PREPAY POWER | PURCHASE POWER IN ADVANCE, YOU’RE IN CONTROL
This optional service allows you to purchase power in advance of when
you’ll need it. There’s no more electric bill, and no deposit needed. You
are in control of how much you’ll spend. You add money to your account
by phone, at one of our offices, through the SmartHub app, or at one of
our Bill Payment Terminals (BPTs). You’ll know how much power you have
left through the SmartHub app and by email alerts. More than 9,000 of our
members use PrePay to take control of their energy expenses.
WEATHERIZATION LOANS | IMPROVE YOUR HOME’S ENERGY EFFICIENCY
Your cooperative has loaned members more than $10 million for energy
efficiency improvements since 1989. The rate is 5%, and payments are
generally spread over 5 years and included with your monthly power bill.
Qualified members can apply for loans up to $6,000 for residential projects
and $10,000 for commercial projects. This program helps our members
save on their power bills and helps the local economy.
SMARTHUB | USE THIS FREE APP TO MANAGE YOUR ENERGY USAGE
This free app makes it easy to monitor your power usage and manage
your account. You can compare your usage by day, week or month, and
compare it to last year. Looking at your daily usage makes it easier to
see what activities use the most energy. You can make payments through
SmartHub as well as estimate what your monthly bill will be. Using this app
is a great way to manage your energy usage.
4 BEMC 2018 YEAR IN REVIEW
DESIGNED FOR YOUR BENEFIT
CO-OP CONNECTIONS | SAVINGS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS WHEN YOU SHOP
Members receive discounts at more than 30,000 local and national
retailers and service providers. The free app is your ticket to savings
for prescription drugs, car care, dental and eye care, energy efficiency
projects, clothing, dining out, entertainment, home and garden, home
services, travel, pet care and much more. Create your free account and
find out more at Connections.coop.
COMMUNITY PROGRAMS | MAKING OUR AREA A BETTER PLACE TO LIVE
Your co-op is guided by the 7 Cooperative Principles, one of which is
Concern for Community. Visit BEMC.org to learn more about our annual
programs that have a far-reaching impact on our communities. They
include Bright Ideas Education Grants, Community Grants, Warm Homes
Warm Hearts utility assistance, Scholarship Highway, Electric Cooperative
Youth Tour, and Sports Camp Scholarships. The Bright Ideas Education
Grants program, which we founded in 1994, is now replicated by every
cooperative in the state. BEMC community programs totaling more than
$221,765 benefited members in 2018.
ENERGY SAVING INFORMATION | TIPS AND TOOLS WITH YOU IN MIND
Visit BEMC.org for video tutorials and links to an extensive list of practical
things you can do to be more efficient. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for
timely advice, and stop by our offices for literature or to speak with one of our
energy experts. Don’t miss our Tips & Tools in your newsletter every month in
Carolina Country Magazine. You can also find information on our Community
Solar program and electric vehicle charging stations on our website.
Members who wish to participate in a program that measures the true impact
a smart thermostat can have on energy savings can purchase an Ecobee4
from BEMC for $50 plus sales tax. Regular retail is $249. According to research
published by Ecobee, Inc., the Ecobee4 wi-fi programmable thermostat has
been proven to save up to 23% on heating and cooling costs in homes.
BEMC 2018 YEAR IN REVIEW 5
EVERGREEN
CERRO GORDO
WHITE MARSH
CHADBOURN
OLD DOCK
PIREWAY
TABOR CITY
ASH
CALABASH SHALLOTTE
HOLDEN BEACH
OAK ISLAND
BOLIVIA
Brunswick County
Columbus County
OUR SERVICE TERRITORY
DIRECTORIALDISTRICTS
In 2018, we were the second-largest electric cooperative in the state, and 35th out of 820 in the nation. Our 168 employees served more than 77,000 members, over 94,000 meter locations and maintained 6,814 miles of line across our expansive, diverse and ever-growing service territory.
6 BEMC 2018 YEAR IN REVIEW
OAK ISLAND
BOLIVIA
Brunswick County
LELAND
District 1Jack Miller
District 8John Kopp
District 7Hubert Brittain
District 6David Gore
Secretary/Treasurer
District 9Bryan Smith
District 2JoAnn Simmons
District 11Dan Strickland
District 10Calvin Duncan
District 12Phillip Cheers
District 4Moses C. Herring
Asst. Secretary/Treasurer
At-Large/Brunswick Cty.John WardPresident
District 5Larry Fowler
2018 BOARD OF DIRECTORS
DIRECTORIALDISTRICTS
District 3Frederick TedderVice President
BEMC 2018 YEAR IN REVIEW 7
OUR SERVICE AND
Service reliability percentage uptime was 99.99412%.
Customer service representatives received 212,034 inbound calls, a
decrease of less than 1% from the previous year.
Residential member satisfaction survey results averaged 9.17 out of 10.
We installed 2,426 new services in 2018 and project similar growth for 2019.
Our Weatherization Loan Program provided low-interest, energy efficiency
loans to qualified members for projects totaling nearly $1.5 million.
We launched a new website with a more streamlined layout and
enhanced features.
We enhanced our SmartHub member portal mobile app to include
outage reporting, street light reporting, the outage map, Facebook, and
website access.
We continued to grow the more than 7,000 members that follow us on
our social media platforms.
Operations, Engineering and the whole company responded to Hurricane
Florence after an extended period of hurricane force winds and torrential
rain that resulted in many downed trees across power lines and locations
that were nearly impossible to navigate due to flooding. We coordinated
the efforts of approximately 500 additional staff that graciously came our
way to help restore service to our membership. There were 80,414 services
without power at the height of the storm, and restoration took a total of
17,000 man-hours. We replaced 142 poles, 78,000 feet of conductor and
89 transformers.
HURRICANEFLORENCE
8 BEMC Annual Report 20168 BEMC 2018 YEAR IN REVIEW
OPERATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS
Installed a new 15/20/25 MVA transformer at Yellow Banks Substation to
serve the growing load in St. James and the surrounding areas.
Increased the Long Beach Substation capacity from a 12/16/20 MVA to a
24/32/40 MVA transformer to serve the growing load on Long Beach.
Added a second 12/16/20 MVA transformer to the Zion Hill Substation to
serve the load along Hwy 211 from Midway to Supply.
Upgraded the Town Creek to Winnabow transmission line to a concrete
pole construction designed to sustain high winds and framed 115 kV in
preparation of a long range planned voltage conversion.
Designed the Winnabow to Bolivia transmission line upgrade from a 69 kV
wood pole construction to a 115 kV concrete pole construction, currently
in progress.
Replaced older, electromechanical relaying equipment at Lockwood
Substation, and upgraded relaying equipment at Yellow Banks and Zion
Hill Substations.
Performed major maintenance at Holden Beach Substation replacing
aged and corroded infrastructure.
Completed construction of distribution projects in Columbus and
Brunswick counties as identified in the 2016-2017 Construction Work Plan.
Engineering reviewed load growth patterns across the service territory
and prepared a new four-year work plan (2019-2022) to reliably serve the
projected load growth and to reliably maintain the existing transmission
and distribution system.
Installed 88 miles of underground distribution line and added 2,046 active
meters to our lines.
Redesigned the fiber network that supports substations and offices to
improve redundancy and resiliency.
Implemented next-generation endpoint security for enhanced
cybersecurity.
Upgraded to all-flash array data storage for increased access and
transactional speeds.
Launched a new user interface for Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI).
Widely distributed iPads for increased use of mobile data applications
in the field.
Added internal and external failover redundancy for Internet access.
POWER SUPPLY, ENGINEERING &
OPERATIONS
TECHNOLOGY
BEMC 2018 YEAR IN REVIEW 9
Our sound management practices, strong fiscal oversight and forward-
thinking operational policies earned us an A+ Fitch rating, which allows us
to finance debt on the most favorable terms.
We are accredited by the Rural Electric Safety Achievement Program
(RESAP), and consistently achieve the highest safety rating possible, which
translates into savings on insurance.
Our industry leading Right-of-Way program is among the most diligent in
the state and perhaps the country. This leads to higher reliability and faster
restoration, which results in savings.
We were among the very first to lay underground lines, and today well
over half of our lines are underground. This leads to faster restoration
system-wide after a storm, and big savings.
BOND RATINGS
SAFETY RATING
ROW
UNDERGROUND LINES
KEEPING RELIABILITY UP
10 BEMC 2018 YEAR IN REVIEW
This integrated system of smart meters, communication networks and
data management enables better, faster communication between our
members and the cooperative.
We belong to the North Carolina Electric Membership Corporation
(NCEMC) and National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA)
and enjoy the benefits of resource sharing and collective buying power.
Our experience in dealing with rapid growth allows us to plan ahead for the
needs of our membership, including saving on all facets of construction
and infrastructure improvement costs.
ADVANCED METERING
INFRASTRUCTURE (AMI)
PARTNERSHIPS
EXPERT PLANNING
AND CONTROLLING COSTS
Brunswick Electric’s integrated smart metering
system better enables faster communication
between members and the cooperative.
BEMC 2018 YEAR IN REVIEW 11
12 BEMC 2018 YEAR IN REVIEW
CONDENSED BALANCE SHEET
Assets
Net utility plant
Other property & investments
Current assets
Deferred charges
Total
Members’ Equity & Liabilities
Members’ equity
Noncurrent liabilities
Current liabilities
Deferred credits
Total
CONDENSED STATEMENT OF OPERATIONS
Operating revenues
Operating expenses:
Cost of power
Other variable operating expenses
Depreciation
Interest
Total operating expenses
Net operating margins (before allocations)
Net non-operating margins
Total net margins (before allocations)
Patronage allocations
Total Net Margins
$ 315,596,376
$ 38,760,820
$ 68,322,645
$ 3,713,601
$ 426,393,442
$ 147,539,276
$ 229,672,246
$ 31,914,419
$ 17,267,501
$ 426,393,442
$163,760,068
$ 99,518,874
$ 35,484,874
$ 16,239,065
$ 8,013,853
$ 159,256,666
$ 4,503,402
$ 1,448,674
$ 5,952,076
$ 4,503,402
$ 10,455,478
$ 320,517,978
$ 42,026,684
$ 58,670,834
$ 7,939,387
$ 429,154,883
$ 163,209,214
$ 217,526,634
$ 36,853,523
$ 11,565,512
$ 429,154,883
$183,245,782
$ 113,222,956
$ 37,517,713
$ 17,139,477
$ 8,250,919
$ 176,131,065
$ 7,114,717
$ 1,368,923
$ 8,483,640
$ 5,237,687
$ 13,721,327
2017
2017
2018
2018
FINANCIALS
BEMC 2018 YEAR IN REVIEW 13
CONDENSED BALANCE SHEET
Assets
Net utility plant
Other property & investments
Current assets
Deferred charges
Total
Members’ Equity & Liabilities
Members’ equity
Noncurrent liabilities
Current liabilities
Deferred credits
Total
CONDENSED STATEMENT OF OPERATIONS
Operating revenues
Operating expenses:
Cost of power
Other variable operating expenses
Depreciation
Interest
Total operating expenses
Net operating margins (before allocations)
Net non-operating margins
Total net margins (before allocations)
Patronage allocations
Total Net Margins
POWERING OUR REGION’S GROWTH
GROWTHIN MEMBERS
GROWTHIN MILES OF LINE
GROWTHIN KWH SOLD
1.4 Billion
GROWTH IN KWH SOLD
1.2 Billion
1 Billion
800 Million
600 Million
400 Million
200 Million
1940
.35M
14 BEMC 2018 YEAR IN REVIEW
ELECTRICITY: A GOOD VALUE
A NOTE FROM YOUR2019 BOARD PRESIDENT
BEMC 2018 YEAR IN REVIEW 15
Frederick TedderPresidentBEMC Board of Directors
Eighty years ago, there was a determined and united effort to bring
electricity, and all its benefits, to our corner of the state. We owe much to
the hard work, courage and commitment of those individuals who formed
the co-op, and today, we strive daily to live up to their example of single-
mindedly and selflessly serving our neighbors.
As the decades passed, and times changed and our area grew, Brunswick
Electric kept true to its mission of working to improve the quality of life of
its members. Balancing the competing needs of high system reliability and
keeping your power bill as low as possible requires dedication, expertise
and vision, and on your behalf, we’ve become good at it. One of our
primary objectives has been to keep ahead of the tremendous growth
we’ve been experiencing. For example, in 1980 we had just over 22,000
members and 3,000 miles of line, and by the year 2000 we had more
than 48,000 members and nearly 5,000 miles of line. By 2018, we were
serving nearly 77,000 members with over 6,800 miles of line. In other
words, we surpass or come close to doubling our membership about
every 20 years now. During this time, we’ve maintained industry-setting
standards, including our high reliability rating of 99.99412%, and achieved
excellent fiscal controls that resulted in an A+ Fitch bond rating that saves
you money.
You can count on Brunswick Electric to continue our tradition of
industry leadership. We were among the first to lay underground lines,
which dramatically improved reliability throughout the entire system.
We developed one of the first “pay as you go” power programs, giving
members more control over their power usage, and now nearly 13% of
our members choose this option. We were one of the first to see the
advantages of Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), which led to both
better service and savings for you. And our Bright Ideas Education Grant
program, started at Brunswick Electric, has been adopted by every co-
op in North Carolina, and to date nearly $12 million has be donated to
teachers across the state for classroom projects.
You can rely on the fact that BEMC is prepared to meet the opportunities
and challenges of the future with your best interests in mind. On behalf
of the board, management and staff, we are proud to be at your service.
