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Escambia River Electric Cooperative

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  • dirtfarmer

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    To all GCGF members that live, or have relatives or friends that live in an area of North Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties that receive electrical service from EREC, You need to play close attention to the revised Bylaws that were passed yesterday at the annual meeting at Northview High School in Brat Fl..

    The revisions include a new section, Article XI, section 5, Alternate Dispute resolution, that if not rejected by the member, will force them to accept Binding Arbitration for legal relief against erec should the need ever arise.

    Members will have 60 days from the date of the annual meeting to reject these changes by registered mail. There are about 10200 members in EREC's area of operation, and a clear super majority will not be aware of these changes until it is to late to take action.

    About 300 member were in attendance yesterday, with about 80% voting yes, and 20% voting no. Most members attending these dog and pony shows are pro erec. They come for the prizes. $500.00 free electricity, and another 70 or so prizes ranging from fishing rods to tea sets.

    The revisions were mailed about 10 days in advance of the meeting, with no discussion or explanation of the gravity of the changes to the loss of legal rights to members. In fact, there were deliberately misleading statements, lies, on the introductory page of the revisions designed to deflect attention from the changes.

    I have engaged the services of an attorney who advised that I mail a certified letter to the co-op asking them to remove these revisions from the ballot because of the deceptive nature of the text. Additionally, I was in attendance at the annual meeting yesterday where I spent a couple of hours in the parking lot before the meeting handing out flyers recommending a no vote. I held no illusions about stopping the passage of the ballot, but I was obliged to at least mount an effort.





    Thanks
     
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    dirtfarmer

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    The revised bylaws will not raise the bill. If you live in Milton, the Florida Public Service Commission would not allow an investor owned utility, Gulf Power, to add burdensome legal restrictions on its customers. Cooperative are not regulated by the Florida PSC.
    If you have any problem with Gulf Power, you can seek whatever legal relief is available, to include class action suits, and trial by jury. The changes outlined briefly above will take away that right for users that get their power from the co-op listed above.

    The info above was posted to pass the word around that should the changes stand, your friends and or relatives, if you have any living in that area, have 60 days to op out.
     

    M60Gunner

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    Thank you so much. I saw you in the parking lot. You and I must have been the only two who voted no.
     

    Jdeuser74

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    So in plain English if we have a problem with the co-op there's nothing we can do about it now right or am l missing something

    Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
     

    Zeroed in

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    Oh man, don't get me started on those lying crooked bastards. EREC are thieves. They can see whats on your power meter 24-7, can change the usuage, add to it etc., and send you a bill. Their reply is "This is about the same amount you paid this time last year". Doesn't matter if you shut your power off for a month, you'll be billed the amount you paid the year prior.
    They seriously need investigated.
     

    Droshki

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    Ah, binding arbitration.

    Being slipped into everything you do nowadays. It really protects the companies you do business with because it's a given fact that the arbiters that any particular company approves for use are loaded with ex-company employees, and/or known to alway rule for the company, no matter what. Congress recently passed legislation protecting this scam that removes your legal right to sue when wronged, including a ban on class action suits, which was a way around it, once enough people got screwed over and banded together.

    It's the only thing keeping my home builder in business. Had thier customers been able to sue them, the resulting civil payouts to make thier customers whole would have driven them out of business a decade ago.
     

    dirtfarmer

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    Frankly, I'm not exactly sure where the erec members stand legally at this time. IN plan english, it would appear that if you seek some sort of legal relief if needed against erec, you would have to accept binding arbitration, unless you go through the procedures to op-out. The entire event is B.S.. Persons receiving power from an investor owned utility, Gulf Power, don't have to put up with this kind of nonsense because they are regulated by the Florida Public Service Commission.
    I am working with an attorney to see if this bylaw revision can be overturned in court. I will post more info as I have it.
    In the meantime I am hoping to get the PNJ to do a community service piece to advise persons or businesses receiving service from erec that they have a 60 day clock ticking.
    All of this info plus plus is on the desks of Senator Broxson and Representative Ingam.

    This electric cooperative thing goes back to rural electrification act of 1936. Although i cannot speak about other co-ops in the state of Florida, this one here, erec, is long past it's pull date.

    Other than issues of safety, there is no regulatory over sight of Rural Electric Cooperatives in the State of Florida.

    Here is an interesting sideline that causes me to go what? EREC has 10200 customers, they operate as a 501 tax exempt entity, and are just a little over 27,000,000.00 in debt.
    Lots of questions.
     

    MAXman

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    It's the only thing keeping my home builder in business. Had thier customers been able to sue them, the resulting civil payouts to make thier customers whole would have driven them out of business a decade ago.


    Sounds like a class act
     

    Droshki

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    There's not a contract in America that doesn't have a binding arbitration clause in it anymore. Big banks were one of the first to use them. Congress has made it all possible.
     

    M60Gunner

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    \I wish I had known about the amount of debt so I could have asked the guy who was on stage taking questions.
     

    Alchemist

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    Here is an interesting sideline that causes me to go what? EREC has 10200 customers, they operate as a 501 tax exempt entity, and are just a little over 27,000,000.00 in debt.
    Lots of questions.

    This is important information. That puts each customer carrying about $2600 in debt plus interest that will be exacted from you over the coming years as you continue service with them. What in the world happened to $27,000,00?

    Little or no oversight and limited or no legal recourse seems like a bad idea for EREC customers.
     
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