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SLEMCO’s 69th Annual Meeting Attracts Thousands:
Lucky SLEMCO Winner Drives Home In New Car,
20 Others Win $2,000 For College

Mrs. Patsy Patin of Breaux Bridge was the grand prize winner of the 2006 SLEMCO Annual Meeting held at the Cajundome in Lafayette yesterday, June 3rd. She trembled as she searched for her driver’s license to verify that she was indeed the winner, all the while telling SLEMCO workers that she won an early bird prize 40 years ago—a refrigerator. When offered the choice of five brand new 2006 vehicles from Lafayette Motors, she decided on the Mazda Tribute SUV. 

During the meeting, SLEMCO also awarded $40,000 in college scholarships to twenty students who will be attending college this fall. Winners included Kevin Saltzman of Gueydan, Sarina Ernest of Abbeville, Sara Melancon of Rayne, Tricia Andrus of Abbeville, Amber Shulaw of Lafayette, Blake Touchet of Kaplan, Stephen McElroy of Lafayette, Megan Begnaud of Carencro, Francis Broussard of Breaux Bridge, Shawn Cormier of Breaux Bridge, Justin Gary of Youngsville, April Breaux of Lafayette, Ryan Manuel of Ville Platte, Christopher Patterson of Lafayette, Amanda McBride of Lafayette, Allison Hebert of Abbeville, Mark Wilson of Youngsville, Mallory Dupre’ of Scott, Jean Broussard of Youngsville and Kyle Dupuy of Breaux Bridge.

Earlier in the meeting, Remie McGee, Jr. of Acadia Parish, Jerry Meaux of Lafayette Parish and Dennis Broussard of Vermilion Parish were re-elected to three-year terms on the SLEMCO Board of Directors.

Louisiana Public Service Commission Chairman Jimmy Field explained to the crowd how the volatility of natural gas prices directly affects prices for electricity and how SLEMCO members have been protected from skyrocketing electricity prices due to the foresight of SLEMCO’s board of directors and management.

“SLEMCO is the most well run co-op in the State,” said Commissioner Field. “Your manager, Mickey Gajan, had the foresight to negotiate long-term prices for fuel so you would not be affected by rising energy costs.”

“Your neighbors that are on CLECO or Entergy are paying much more than you are for electricity because those companies use natural gas to produce power. SLEMCO uses coal to produce its electricity.”

“I can also tell you that Commissioner Dale Sittig and I hardly get any complaints from SLEMCO members, but we do get a lot from the investor-owned utility companies,” he added.

SLEMCO Board President Jerry Meaux of Lafayette spoke to the crowd of more than 10,000, praising everyone present for working together and making it through a very tough year of storms. He also pledged the commitment of every SLEMCO board member and employee to continue to be ready, should any storms strike our service area this season.

“Our emergency restoration plan has been tested, fine tuned and is razor sharp and ready for whatever this hurricane season brings,” said Meaux.

J.U. Gajan, SLEMCO’s general manager and chief executive officer, told all the SLEMCO members present that storm damages from the 2005 hurricane season reached $8.5 million and could have been much higher had it not been for the continuation of a program to strengthen and rebuild SLEMCO’s electrical system. During 2005, SLEMCO invested another $18.3 million on construction upgrades and improvements to its distribution system.

He also announced major agreements with the towns of Erath, Gueydan and Kaplan. SLEMCO now provides wholesale power to all three towns.

Gajan concluded by stressing that SLEMCO’s local leadership can evaluate changes in the market place and develop plans to keep the company charting a straight course—whether that course is power restoration after a storm or wildly erratic energy prices.

 SLEMCO provides electric power to some 89,000 residents and businesses in the parishes of Acadia, Avoyelles, Evangeline, Iberia, Lafayette, St. Landry, St. Martin and Vermilion.

6/5/06

For more information, contact SLEMCO's Mary Laurent at 337-896-2520.