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Electric Board Explores New Retirement Program

New Customer Portal to Launch Soon

Posted
HUNTINGDON (March 25) — Carroll County Electric’s Board of Directors voted Thursday to change the retirement program to a state-run Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System (TCRS), assuming a survey of the current employees is favorable toward the change.
Presently, CCED provides 100 percent of the 12 percent of the employees’ regular wages toward a 403B plan, which has no cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) and is invested in public investment markets.
The motion made by Chris Gurley, concerning TCRS reads as follows, “Motion to have TCRS evaluate Plan 2 up to 5 years of service with COLA for Employees.” Motion was seconded by Lori Nolen and approved. Once available, the TCRS data for this scenario will be shared with employees and survey taken to gauge interest level. The Board will then make a decision to participate or not based upon employee interest and financials. CCED Board began reviewing TCRS options by employee request.
Unlike the current plan, participating employees would be required to pay five percent of their regular wages into the plan.  If approved, employees can buy back as much as five years of prior to service to front-end invest in the program. If all eligible employees buy back five years, the total out-of-pocket for employees could be $833,631 matched by the company’s $840,490 share.
The employees will be surveyed as to whether or not to switch to TCRS.
Ryan Drewry, office manager, said the average tenure of employees is 21 years. 
If the new TCRS plan is implemented, the system’s contribution will be 10.63 percent matched by the employees’ five percent.
Local county and school employees are enrolled in the TCRS.
While more lucrative plans were available, the board cautioned the system maintains only adequate reserves to cover major emergencies. A major capital expenditure recently was the countywide replacement of self-reading electric meters. The expenditure was paid by cash, which drew down the reserves to approximately $1 million. The next major project is a new substation  in the 1000-Acre Lake area to handle the new demand.
Danny Brawner, general manager, said the TEC is completing its fiber-optic expansion in Carroll County. It will provide high-speed internet to the rural areas of McLemoresville to Huntingdon and in the Buena Vista area. Other areas will also be added in the near future with new grant funding. Brawner said TEC is interconnecting with CCED’s fiber and the interface is located in the server room at the CCED headquarters in Huntingdon.
Drewry said a new customer service app will be available soon to allow CCED customers to pay over the internet. That is in addition to paying by phone, mail or in person. Customers can check their usage