Iva Stinson charged into Big Country Electric Cooperative’s Snyder office September 24 with a mission.
“Thanks for keeping the lights on for us,” she said to a crowd of lineworkers, offering handshakes to each one across a table of goodies. Stinson, a 35-year member of the co-op who lives south of Snyder, handed out praise to every person she saw in a blue, BCEC-branded shirt during the co-op’s third annual member appreciation open house.
“So often, when our power goes off, I just appreciate when they get it back on quickly,” she said.
That kind of feedback—whether positive or negative—and in-person connection is the whole goal of the open house, a spiritual successor to the co-op’s big in-person annual meeting, which used to be held at rotating sites throughout the co-op’s service territory.
“I think it’s important for them to know what’s going on at their co-op and see and meet the employees and see what we do,” said board member Danny Helms, himself a 50-year member of the co-op. “It’s a chance for people to come and visit and express any concerns they might have.”


The open house is held simultaneously at the co-op’s three offices, in Roby, Snyder and Stamford, the same day that the annual meeting is held virtually and allows folks a convenient and casual way to meet the folks who keep the power flowing. And an abundance of food, goodies and prizes don’t hurt.
“Everybody knows everybody,” said Mark McClain, Big Country EC general manager, who visited all three offices during the three-hour open house. “It’s kind of like a little homecoming for a lot of people. They come in and want to find out how much rain you got.”
For the next rain, open house attendees went home with a free umbrella (or parasols, depending on who you ask), and 50 prizes—gift cards, devices and a 75-inch TV—donated by BCEC vendors were also awarded.
During the official business of the virtual annual meeting, BCEC board members Steve Moore of Inadale, representing District 5; Helms of Rough Creek, District 6; and David Beaver of Fluvanna, District 7, were reelected to additional three-year terms by 265 voters.
McClain said growth, reliability and teamwork are major themes for Big Country EC this year. The co-op is continuing to expand, adding steady oil field growth and other increasingly large loads in various locations throughout the system. To help with the growth, the co-op has constructed two new distribution substations and is working on two more that will be completed in 2025.


“That will help all of our membership because it helps us be more reliable,” McClain said. “It’ll be a celebration when we finish those four.”
The co-op also plans to inspect about 24,000 power poles this year—about 10% of its system—replacing poles, crossarms and insulators as needed.
“It helps to find those poles that have been out there for a long time—perhaps they’re rotted on the inside and you can’t see it from the outside,” said Andrew Porter, distribution system planning manager, in a prerecorded video. “It cuts down on our outage times when we get these poles out before they become an issue.”
All that work—and three simultaneous open houses—take a community-minded team. McClain said the co-op couldn’t be successful without a culture of pitching in, both internally and externally.
“The biggest thing for me to mention is that our greatest asset is our employees—by far,” he said. “The attitude, the work ethic, the whole nine yards. We are just really blessed with great employees.”
That teamwork extends well beyond the walls of the co-op’s offices. One example is the annual Government-in-Action Youth Tour trip to Washington, D.C. Kaitlyn Saffel was one of three local teens who represented Big Country EC on the all-expenses-paid trip in June.


“I got to meet people from all over Texas and get to learn what their life is like,” Saffel said in a video about her first trip outside of Texas. The National Museum of Natural History was her favorite part of the experience, which her sister attended last year. “She kind of coached me up to do it, and I’m so glad she did because it was amazing.”
As a not-for-profit co-op, Big Country EC is a lot more than wires and poles, McClain said. It’s about people—people helping people.
“Each person that we serve, each entity, each oil field account but especially the little lady at the end of the line is what we exist for,” he said.
Like Iva Stinson, who charged into the Snyder office with praise and handshakes.
“Ultimately, we want to have excellent reliability, low cost and be someone who provides excellent member service,” McClain said. “Our employees love our members, love what we do and we’re thankful for that, and we’re thankful for you, our members.”


