PLWC board hears yearly report, makes promotions

Officials said Friday that the utility’s board received a yearly update on light, water and cable service.

PLWC saw a decrease in cable subscribers during 2022, while there was an increase in telecommunications subscribers. Also, there was an increase in residential customers for electric, water and sewer services.

Officials also said 2022 was the first time in history that PLWC’s lobby and drive-thru area received more credit and debit card payments than cash or checks.

The number of calls to the utility also went down to 81,704 in 2022, while PLWC received 21,158 work orders. Officials said 1,182 customers had their services shut off for non-payment, while 638 of those customers were turned back on within seven days.

After being in executive session for about 10 minutes, the board voted to promote David Romine to chief operations officer and Marcus Dowdy to chief technology officer at PLWC, effective immediately.

The board also received a report about transformer vandalism cases reported around the country.

The vandalism has happened in several states including North Carolina, Oregon and Washington.

In the North Carolina case, PLWC officials said someone shot a hole in a radiator on a transformer. The hole caused oil to leak and caused damage to the transformer.

PLWC is looking at a plan to set up transformers so that if a transformer gets low on oil, the transformer will immediately shut off instead of causing damage.

The board also received its monthly financial report. The utility has a year-to-date overall cash flow of -$143,000, but has capital asset additions of $11,157,000. PLWC also had 56 days of operating cash on-hand.

The board received a status report from the Southwestern Power Administration for the month of December and approved the financial report for December 2022.

The board also honored Todd Boyd for its employee spotlight for the month and elected officers for 2023. They include chairman Kelly Wright, vice chairman Mark Miller and secretary Dr. Mark Shotts.