As we look back on 2026 so far, our January and February had several winter events. The most notable was Winter Storm Fern, which affected nearly half the country. Alerts for Fern affected about 230 million people from Texas to New England. With heavy snow, ice accumulations and freezing temperatures, Fern and its aftermath left many without power and many homes with far higher monthly usage than usual. It was an unpleasant mix of high bills and outages. 

This event highlighted the critical role of our after-hours call center partner, the Cooperative Response Center (CRC). CRC provides 24/7 live call handling, outage reporting, dispatch support and other after-hours services for Clay Electric and many others nationwide. They have been an excellent partner to provide our members a way to contact us when the office is closed, but during high-volume periods like the nation-spanning winter storms we just experienced earlier this year, CRC’s resources can be stretched thin. When widespread winter emergencies hit simultaneously across vast regions, call volumes can skyrocket as members report outages, seek updates or need assistance from dozens of states simultaneously. CRC’s setup is designed for exactly these scenarios; their agents and automated tools work hard to efficiently handle the heavy volumes. Still, in exceptional circumstances, delays can happen.

To help ensure your information is quickly taken and understood when speaking with a CRC representative, we encourage our members to reference their most recent bill and have their account number, meter number and map number available. All are printed at the top of your monthly bills. You can reference the highlighted example here in the magazine. This information is also available, along with bill pay options and other features, on our app and website. You can visit our website at www.ceci.coop or download the app from your devices app store by searching for “Clay ECI” and downloading the utility with our logo.

As March arrives and we transition toward spring, let’s reflect on the resilience shown during that challenging event. Our linemen, staff and partners like CRC worked tirelessly around the clock, often in harsh conditions, to restore power as quickly and safely as possible. Outages from such widespread storms are never easy, but your patience, preparedness and understanding during those days made a real difference. We’re proud of how our cooperative community came together.

This month, our forestry crew will still be working on the Iola substation’s south feeder. They’ll be clearing rights-of-way of dangerous trees to improve reliability. We expect them to be working generally in the area south of Iola, north of Hickory Hill Lane, east of Farina, and west of U.S. Route 45. Their work area will be highlighted on the map included in this section.

Don’t forget to search for your member number in the center section of this magazine. Three lucky numbers are hidden each month in Clay Electric News — if yours is there and you call us, you’ll earn a $5 credit on your next bill!