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“ I joined the company in 2013, and we were intent on changing that situation. I’ m happy to report that we’ ve accomplished a lot since then. We were selling meter cans and water heaters and still giving away light bulbs until 1986. We were a very slow-moving, bureaucratic company. I changed all that in 2013. I asked the membership, the people who own us, what they wanted. The number one thing our members wanted was high-speed internet. This is a rural area of Texas, so this presented quite a challenge.
“ We initially tried to partner with other companies, but nobody wanted to provide broadband here, so we decided to take fiber to the home, and I put together a business plan. Fiber optic communication not only enables broadband, phone service, VoIP, and whatever else you need, but it also provides grid automation. So, it’ s also a way for us to operate the electric system.
“ The second thing they wanted was alternative energy because, in 2013, most of our customers were getting bad deals from
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