| Peace River Electric Cooperative: Power Program |
| Utility | |
| Monday, 31 December 2007 | |
 William Mulcay’s unique training and education program has created an empowered workforce with an amazing safety track record.  William Mulcay, General Manager For example, all power-line personnel must complete a five-year training period on the ground as groundmen before they qualify to become a journeyman lineman. As they’re undergoing training on the job, they’re earning an associates degree in power-line technology through a Peace River program with a local community college. “At the end of those five years,” Mulcay said, “we know they’re ready. It’s a unique program for a utility company, but the results speak for themselves.” Classroom and beyond Peace River got its start in 1940 as the Peace River Valley Electric Membership Cooperative, Inc., an organization created to bring power to 222 of the most rural homes and farms in West Central Florida. Today, Peace River has a shorter name but a much longer list of members—roughly 35,000 and growing. Much of that expansion Mulcay witnessed first hand. A native of Wauchula, he first worked for Peace River part time when he was home from college on summer break in the late 1960s. And when the company created a manager of finance position in 1972, Mulcay discovered you can go back home again. “I started as a one-man department and over the years was given more and more responsibility,” he said. “When the general manager retired in 1997, the board of directors asked me to take his place. So it’s been a long, one-step-at-a-time career, and the vast majority of it has been right here at Peace River.” As GM, one of the first things Mulcay did was coordinate Peace River’s educational development program. Everyone, from line personnel to office staff, was given the opportunity to further their education at a local community college on Peace River’s tab. Most of the company’s employees come straight out of high school, Mulcay said, and otherwise wouldn’t have the opportunity to continue their education. “So it really boosts self-esteem and job satisfaction. We’re helping people achieve something they never thought they’d do. It’s allowed us to develop a level of education that’s unheard of at a utility.” Because education happens in tandem with on- the-job training, employees aren’t just learning theories, they’re learning how to put them into practice. According to Mulcay, that combination of the classroom and the real world greatly enhances an employee’s decisionmaking ability, allowing the company to push important decisions down to the frontlines. And Peace River clearly demonstrates to its employees that education creates opportunity: if an employee wants to be a supervisor, he/she must have a two-year degree; managers must have a four-year degree. The result is 135 employees that are motivated, educated, and trained to perform their jobs safely and efficiently—a group that was put to the test like never before in 2004. When Hurricane Charley made landfall in Southwest Florida in August 2004, its winds registered above 150 mph—a Category Four hurricane. It would leave 16 dead and $15.4 billion in property damage, the fourth costliest Atlantic hurricane in US history. In Peace River’s coverage area, thousands of trees and power lines were uprooted and snapped. The majority of the power distribution system had to be completely rebuilt. Thanks to the organization’s culture, and its workforce of educated and highly trained employees, the entire system was back up and running in three weeks. But that was just the beginning. Two days after the power was back for all of Peace River’s customers, Hurricane Frances hit. Although not as powerful as Charley, Frances knocked out a significant portion of Peace River’s system. Back at work, the cooperative’s dedicated employees had the lights on in just five days. Next, Hurricane Ivan hit the Florida panhandle, and Peace River crews were sent to help other electric cooperatives. Hurricane Jeanne hit within the next two weeks, and the Peace River crews were once again back at work on their own system. “So we had to deal with four hurricanes in a six-week period,” Mulcay said. “We had a lot of help from other cooperatives to get through it, but our people did a tremendous job.” Through it all, with the downed power lines and trees creating dangerous conditions for six consecutive weeks, Peace River did not experience a single lost-time accident—a testament to its people and the program that educated and trained them. “Our people are some of the best in the business,” Mulcay said. “They are the key to all of our success.” |
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American Executive is a RedCoat Publishing publication.
American Executive is a RedCoat Publishing publication.
