Belton home group photoOur community commitment extends to sponsoring Operation Round Up, a voluntary giving program where, for just pennies a month our members provide priceless help and make a big difference in the lives of others. We sponsor environmental programs like GOFER (Give Oil for Energy Recovery) and Power for Wildlife, where we do all we can to ensure that wildlife habitat isn't harmed by right-of-way clearance. In our own daily operations, we're always careful to practice recycling and to use recyclable materials whenever possible.

We're also building for the future by investing in our young people with scholarships and educational programs. Every summer, we send two high school juniors to Washington, D.C., as delegates to the Washington Your Tour. We also offer the Jenny Ballard Scholarship offered by the statewide association of WIRE (Women Involved in Rural Electrification). In addition, we take our safety programs into local schools on a regular basis as part of our Educational Outreach Efforts.

Throughout the year, Santee Electric Cooperative helps ensure the prosperity of our local economy through economic development efforts. We're also working in cooperation with Santee Cooper (a state-owned electric generating utility), Central Electric Power Cooperative (a generation and transmission cooperative), Palmetto Economic Development Corporation (an economic development marketing organization) and other electric distribution cooperatives across the state to bring jobs and industries into South Carolina from around the world.

At the teacher's request, a Santee Electric Cooperative representative will visit students in the classroom for a fun and informative presentation that helps students respect and value the role electricity plays in their lives. Because we believe that understanding electricity is the first step toward using electricity responsibly, we're eager to help elementary students in our service area gain that understanding as soon as possible. At the teacher's request, a Santee Electric Cooperative representative will visit students in the classroom for a fun and informative presentation that helps students respect and value the role electricity plays in their lives.

To find out more about these free in-school presentations or to schedule a presentation for your classroom, please contact us.

grant banner

Calling All Teachers ... Do You Have a Bright Idea?

Santee Electric Cooperative accepts applications yearly for Bright Ideas, a grant program to provide funding for innovative classroom-based education projects.

Bright Ideas grants are intended to fund projects outside normal school funding parameters and are available to all disciplines in grades K-12 in Williamsburg, Georgetown, Clarendon, and lower Florence counties. They are not for professional development. A school may submit more than one application, but a teacher is limited to one application per school year. Completed applications are due by Monday, October 11, 2021.

Recipients will be announced sometime around November with the Bright Ideas Prize Team. If a teacher at your school wins, we want to surprise them in their classroom.

This fall teachers will be competing for $15,000. Grants are awarded for up to $1,000 each. Santee Electric Cooperative adopted the idea from the North Carolina Electric Cooperatives and Palmetto Electric Cooperative, which have awarded millions of dollars since the program's inception in 1994.

If you have any questions about the grant program or application procedures please contact Joanna Arnsmeyer at (843) 355-0599 or 1-800-922-1604. Please also feel free to reach us by e-mail at brightideas@santee.org.

Click here for the 2021 Bright Ideas Application

roundup logo

As a voluntary program, Santee Electric relies on consumer participation to ensure the success of Operation Round Up.

When a member participates, his/her average contribution is about 50 cents per month, totaling around $6 on an annual basis. It may seem like small change, but if every consumer took part in the program, we could raise more than $250,000 a year to help worthy community projects in Williamsburg, Georgetown, Florence and Clarendon counties.

Here's How It Works

Operation Round Up is just what the name implies. Each month, Santee Electric simply "rounds up" the electric bills of participating consumers to the next highest dollar. Donations are tax deductible.

All Operation Round Up donations are placed in trust and administered by an independent Board of Directors called the Santee Electric Trust. The Trust is made up of community leaders who serve on a voluntary basis. The Board receives and evaluates all requests, determines who receives funding and how all Operation Round Up monies will be distributed. Typically, the funding is used to address crucial community needs such as housing and medical care-but is not limited to these categories. Operation Round Up funds may not be used for political purposes.

For More Information

If you need further information concerning the Operation Round Up program, please contact us.

 

round up plus

Round Up PLUS allows members to go online and sign-up to give a monthly gift in the amount of their choice or a one-time lump sum. All donations are tax-deductible and go directly into the Operation Round Up Fund.

Sign Up for Round Up or Round Up Plus

 

WIRE banner

WIRE is a statewide community service organization established in 1981 through the Electric Cooperatives of South Carolina, Inc.

WIRE was created as a nonprofit organization to foster interest in and understanding of the rural electric program and to improve the quality of life in rural areas. The efforts of WIRE members go beyond scholarships and fundraising to touch the lives of many people across the Palmetto State.

Santee Electric's WIRE chapter completes monthly service projects; such as, an annual "Stuff Drive" for Pee Dee Thrift, purchasing Christmas gifts for foster children, Back to School projects, cards and gifts for nursing home residents, Lineman Appreciation events, etc.

The group also participates in the SC WIRE organization along with many other WIRE chapters across the state. The statewide WIRE has a Co-op Closet project that provides emergency needs for displaced elderly people through the Department on Aging. Kids Closet is another project in which necessities are provided for students qualifying for the McKinney Vento law.

If you would like to become involved in WIRE and our many worthwhile projects,
please call +1-843-355-6187 or email mmcgee@santee.org.

delivering blankets

SEC WIRE members delivered Christmas cards and blankets to residents in the Lake City Scranton Healthcare Center.

tie dyeing t-shirts

SEC WIRE volunteers at Camp Happy Days each July. Here you see Heather McClary tie dyeing t-shirts with a camper.

stuff drive

Each year SEC WIRE has a Stuff Drive to benefit the Pee Dee Thrift Stores in Florence County.

kids closet

SEC WIRE joins SC WIRE in packing bags for McKinney Vento students. Here WIRE members deliver the bags to Florence School District 5.

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It's inspiring and heart-warming, helpful and fun. Travel the Palmetto State with us, from the suburbs to small towns to the countryside and out-of-the-way stops in between. Get expert tips on gardening, cooking, outdoors and saving money on your energy use. Plus, view the most extensive listing of South Carolina events and destinations.

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South Carolina Living Magazine is brought to you by South Carolina's member-owned, taxpaying, not-for-profit electric cooperatives to inform you about your cooperative, wise energy use and the faces and places that identify the Palmetto State. Electric cooperatives are South Carolina's-and America's-largest utility network.

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  1. OBJECTIVE:

To establish procedures for dealing with SEC members with documented medical necessities and, furthermore, to establish procedures for the actual documentation of such necessities.

  1. POLICY CONTENT:

Members with documented medical necessities will be given certain considerations as follows:

  1. Documentation of Medical Necessities

In order to be given consideration under SEC's Medical Necessities Policy, a member must have a current and properly completed certification on file with the Cooperative.  A copy of this certification form is included with and made part of this policy.

  1. Concerning Disconnection of Service for Nonpayment

Whenever a member meeting the aforementioned requirements to qualify as a "member with documented medical necessities" would otherwise be disconnected for nonpayment, that member will instead be given additional notification (a door hanger or phone call).  The cooperative must be able to document this notification attempt with either a service order (in the case of a trip to the residence) or the cooperative's call log.  Disconnection for nonpayment will not occur until at least seventy-two (72) hours has passed from the time of this additional notification attempt. 

  1. Concerning Outage Restoration

It is crucial to understand that SEC's outage restoration procedures will always focus on restoring power to the most members in the quickest manner possible.  During any outage, restoration of substations, feeders, and larger taps is always considered before individual consumers.

However, once outage restoration has progressed to the individual consumer level, then - and only then - medical necessities will be taken into consideration.  For example, if three members (one with medical necessities documented under this policy and two without) each has an outage involving their individual services AND if any one of the three can be restored in roughly the same amount of time as another, then the member with the documented medical necessity will be given first priority.

  1. Disclaimer

Any document regarding the Cooperative's medical necessities policy and procedures should include a disclaimer with language similar to the following:

Qualification under SEC's medical necessities policy does not guarantee that your electric service will be restored before others.  Furthermore, qualification under this policy is also not a method of avoiding disconnection for nonpayment.  It is simply a means of assisting SEC in knowing where members with critical needs are located on our system.  As always, in the case of potential interruption of service, it is the member's responsibility to take proper precautions.

Medical Necessity Account - Member Certification Form