![]() “I needed to learn all of the processes and procedures of these really good companies,” he said. In addition to visiting with the leadership and staff of the electric distribution co-ops, Hasten spent much of his first 100 days meeting with AECC/AECI staff. ![]() “If you drive to all 17 cooperatives, you get to go up and down the highways a bit, you get to see our state, and you get to see the member-owners all the folks we are supplying power to,” said Hasten, who came to AECC/AECI from Associated Electric Cooperative in Springfield, Missouri. Under the co-op business model, those who are served by electric cooperatives are also its members. Collectively, Arkansas’ electric distribution cooperatives provide electricity to over 1 million Arkansans throughout the state and portions of bordering states. As president and CEO of AECC and AECI, Hasten works for the boards of directors of those two organizations, which are owned by the 17 electric distribution co-ops. “Our goal is to always provide electricity to our members in an affordable, reliable and responsible manner.”įortunately, Hasten had spent a lot of time traveling across the state visiting the state’s electric distribution co-ops before the coronavirus pandemic hit. “As electric co-ops, we are used to planning for the unexpected, whether it be restoring power after a tornado or flood, or making sure we can serve our members in a pandemic,” Hasten said. The April board meeting was conducted via internet, and meetings with Wall Street investors took place in the AECC board room in Little Rock via Webex instead of in person in New York. As part of the plan, many employees began working from home, and the companies made arrangements to sequester employees who must work on campus and at power plants, if necessary. ![]() “When you talk about critical infrastructure, electricity is the key to everything you need to have,” Hasten said, adding that the pandemic plan’s goal was to make sure the lights stay on for co-op members and keep employees safe and healthy. The job got even bigger in March when it became clear that the coronavirus outbreak would require AECC, a wholesale power supplier to the state’s 17 electric distribution co-ops, and AECI, the co-ops’ statewide service association, to revise and implement a pandemic plan the organizations first developed several years ago. That’s what I first realized - that the job is that big.” “It was really more like a 60-, 120-, 180-day plan. “When I first came on board, I thought out what a 30-, 60-, 90-day plan would look like,” Hasten said in a recent interview. (AECI) last October, he approached his new role as he had always done - he established plans with specific goals. Vernon ”Buddy” Hasten joined AECC and AECI last fall.Ĭorporation (AECC) and Arkansas Electric Cooperatives Inc.
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