In Texas in the spring, you can count on wildflowers. I am looking forward to seeing the blue, red, purple, yellow and pink blooms that will blanket our highway roadsides and fields in the coming months.
Those wildflowers always mark the changing of the season. Gone are the cold days and crockpot meals that mark the winter; the sun comes back out, days get longer, evenings are filled with the shouts of kids playing outside as school winds down, and summer is around the corner.
Seasons may change, but the fact that you can count on your cooperative doesn’t change. That’s one of the many things I love about working in this industry. During all seasons and over all the years, our employees stand ready to serve members, ready to respond to outages, and ready to face the challenges that lay ahead. Members saw that last spring when storms hit our service area one after another; our crews always stood at the ready and they never stopped until the last member had power restored.
The constant of the cooperative spirit has been around since 1938 and it is something that will not change, even when other things do. I recently saw a graphic that showed how Americans use electricity, and that has certainly changed since the ‘30s, as one would expect. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration data, last year the use of electricity in the U.S. was 13 times greater than in 1950. That makes sense; we have more gadgets that depend on electricity than ever before. We are seeing electric cars become more popular, and I think in the next 10 years, they will be in many garages in our service area.
In order to stay consistent and be ready to deliver the reliable service our members expect, we have to constantly prepare for change. We must always be looking ahead and thinking about not just how our members use electricity now, but how they will be using it in the next 10–20 years. Our line designers and construction crews have completed several projects over the last few years designed to prepare for future growth, and we will continue to initiate those projects in the coming years..
We also see change and growth in our communities, and Medina Electric Cooperative is here to support the economic development initiatives throughout our service area. We’re proud to be able to offer grants to organizations in our service area that are working to improve or offer new services. Read more about the Community Empowerment Program on Page 20 of March issue of Texas Co-op Power.
In a constantly changing world, you can count on Medina EC to make the necessary changes to meet the needs of our members and community, while staying committed to powering the lives our members with safe and reliable electricity.

Until next time,
Trey Grebe