Ted Lehr announces for PEC District 4

LEHR

Ted Lehr, a 20-year resident of Central Texas with a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering, announced his candidacy for the Pedernales Electric Cooperative Board of Directors for the District 4 position, encompassing northern Hays County and western Travis County.

Lehr has served as a Dripping Springs planning and zoning commissioner for almost four years and has chaired successful campaigns promoting two school bond issues for the Dripping Springs ISD. He has 20 years experience in computer performance engineering and engineering management, according to a news release announcing his candidacy.

“I will work to continue and enhance the improvements in fiduciary responsibility brought on by the recently elected reform candidates,” Lehr said. “I will bring added skills to the board because of my professional background and experience in working with communities to reach shared goals.”

Lehr said he knows how to assist utilities, governments and community advocacy groups to achieve mutually agreeable goals and is qualified to understand what PEC must do to reduce the costs to members, increase efficiencies and allow PEC generation sources to achieve profitability via conservation measures.

Lehr said his experience listening to and acting upon Dripping Springs-area concerns with regard to regulation, quality of life and development give him a superior perspective and independence on what the PEC community wants from its cooperative.

“Open PEC governance is non-negotiable. We are intent on increasing PEC’s accountability to its members as well as reducing costs and dependence upon pollutant-generating technologies through improving distribution efficiencies and providing incentives to members to reduce their consumption and achieve eventual cost savings.” he said.

Lehr earned his undergraduate degrees in Electrical Engineering and Philosophy from Bucknell University, and a Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University in Electrical and Computer Engineering. He has five patents and over 15 articles published in journals with international scope, the release said.

He has been married over 20 years and has two sons, one attending the University of Texas studying computer science and another a junior in Dripping Springs High School.

Ken Rigsbee announces for PEC District 4

RIGSBEE

Ken Rigsbee, who has an extensive record with utility districts, announced his intention to run for the Pedernales Electric Cooperative (PEC) District 4 Director slot, a news release said.

“For nearly 40 years my former employer and various other entities, public and private, ‘trained’ me on how to manage multi-million dollar business lines and how to represent the shareholders on a variety of boards of directors at the local, state and national levels,” he said.

The District 4 race will take place in PEC’s annual meeting this summer. PEC is the nation’s largest electric cooperative, serving more than 200,000 customers.

“I noted that and decided here is a place where my experience might be beneficial to others,” he said. “I am running simply because I think I have been given the skills and experience that might be helpful to a group of people serving on the board who have never had that experience.”

To list a few, Rigsbee retired after 36 years of professional and management assignments with the third largest oil company in the U.S. He is a licensed professional engineer and has served on several boards, including a rural water district and municipal utility district, the release said.

His achievements include Engineer of the Year, 1995, Texas Society of Professional Engineers; and distinguished service awards from Phillips Petroleum Company, The National Society of Professional Engineers and the Oklahoma Jaycees, the release said.

Steven Carriker announces for PEC District 5

CARRIKER

Steven Carriker, a retired farmer and rancher, has announced his candidacy for Pedernales Electric Cooperative District 5 Director. Before retiring from his own agricultural business, Carriker served on the boards of three producer and consumer cooperatives.

“I strongly believe in the cooperative business model,” Carriker said. “A cooperative is owned by those it serves and must be responsive to all of its owners, whether rural or urban, old or new.”

He added, “PEC can be a great organization with a bright future. It’s time to turn the page and permanently empower its owner-customers. As a board member, I’d work to help reach constructive consensus on important policy decisions impacting PEC’s success. This is not only important in delivering electricity to members at the lowest possible cost, but is essential to the morale of a vitally important group – the employees of PEC. A business can only be as successful as its employees make it.”

Carriker served as the Texas State Director of USDA Rural Development, the federal agency that assists in the formation of cooperatives and administers the Rural Utilities Service. That agency finances electric and telephone cooperatives and makes grants and loans for water and wastewater infrastructure. He also served twelve years in the Texas Legislature, where he was instrumental in creating the Texas Ethics Commission and instituting lobby reform. As a legislator he established an ongoing program to educate doctors and nurses for underserved communities, wrote legislation to prevent the dumping of hazardous waste, and passed a bill protecting taxpayers from errors by taxing authorities. Later, he founded and served for four years as the Chief Operating Officer of non-profit Community Development Financial Institution which finances essential community health facilities. He currently serves as the Executive Director of a non-profit community development organization.

Carriker, 59, is a graduate of the University of Texas and lives near the Henly community with his wife, Kathy, a retired school teacher and a community volunteer who delivers meals to the elderly, is active in the Dripping Springs Women’s Club, and serves as the president of the Friends of the Family Justice Center. The Carrikers have three grown children and two grandchildren.

Chris Perry announces for PEC District 4

PERRY

Chris Perry, a 30 year energy industry veteran living in Dripping Springs, has announced his candidacy for the Pedernales Electric Cooperative Board of Directors for District 4. District 4 includes Dripping Springs, Kyle, Buda, Oak Hill, much of Hays County and western Travis County. Perry pointed to his broad experience in electric utility policy and regulation, strategic planning and business process design as qualifications for the position.

“I hope to contribute my expertise in the electric power industry to guide PEC as it charts a course for the future,” Perry said. “PEC needs fresh eyes and experience in the complex issues facing the industry. As fiduciaries, the Board is obligated to provide fair electric rates, reliable service and a financially healthy Cooperative that is accountable to its members.”

He added, “We need to finish the job of reform already underway at PEC and I plan to be actively involved in that effort. The recent passage of the Member Bill of Rights is the kind of landmark reform that I support. Itís time to finish the job.”

Perry is currently involved in developing business strategic plans for utilities and independent power producers, and advises electric utility clients interested in transforming the way energy is produced and managed in such areas as “SmartGrid” technology and ìdistributedî generation. He regularly participates in state regulatory proceedings concerning independent power generation and energy efficiency policies, and is an advocate of encouraging customers to generate their own electricity. In the 1980s, Perry served as Assistant Secretary of the New Mexico Energy and Minerals Department, as a Director of the New Mexico Energy Research and Development Institute, and on the Board of one of several U.S. Department of Energy regional solar energy centers. As Assistant Secretary of Energy in New Mexico, he directed efforts to reform electric rates to encourage electricity production on customer premises and developed private financing mechanisms to construct combined heat and power plants in state facilities.

As a private business owner he has developed independent power generation projects using small natural gas generators, fuel cells and solar energy technology.

“We’re on the verge of a technological revolution in the way electricity is produced and managed, and PEC should embrace and prepare for this future” he said. “I believe that the cooperative ownership structure together with properly designed rates will allow PEC to manage these inevitable changes better than other utilities.”

Perry earned his undergraduate degree from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque and an M.B.A. from the University of Dallas, Graduate School of Management. He enjoys backpacking, camping and other outdoor activities. He resides in Dripping Springs and has two grown children.