Sanibel Journal

The Cooley household just received its ballot for voting on trustees for the Lee County Electric Cooperative board.  To my surprise, there is a contest on the ballot; two people are running for one seat.  That usually does not happen; these elections are generally uncontested. The incumbent has a background in real estate and development with a B.S. degree in business administration from the University of Florida.  He has served on the LCEC board of trustees for 23 years. The Sun, as seen from Captiva Island. The other candidate for the position is an electrical engineer, with experience in directing municipal utilities.  He's taught at Brown University, Northeastern University, Boston University, the Florida Institute of Technology, and more.  He has a B.S. degree in electrical engineering from Alexandria University, and both master's and doctoral degrees in electrical engineering from Northeastern University, according to the bio that accompanied the b...

On our islands, we love to complain about the electric company because of inexplicable or unexpected, but generally brief, power outages.   But complain as we do, we are actually fortunate to have the electric company that we do, because we, the consumers, own it:   the Lee County Electric Cooperative, or LCEC. A large utility pole recently installed by LCEC near Blind Pass. The neighbors call it the "Santiva Obelisk."  Some people have to buy their electricity from a big corporation, and some have to buy it from their local government.   We buy from ourselves, essentially.   It is true that LCEC buys almost all of its power from Florida Power and Light (FPL).   But there is a tiny percentage generated by solar panels on homes and businesses within the 5-county LCEC service area. That’s right – five counties.   LCEC started in 1940 when a citrus grower in North Fort Myers sold his power plant to the first co-op members in the North Fort ...