April 2020 Back Page – We Are All In This Together
Posted: June 5, 2020At this time of so much uncertainty, we reach out with well-wishes for you and your loved one s and to affirm our collective mission to energize rural Alaska with sustainable electricity. I am writing to let you know how we at Alaska Village Electric Cooperative are responding to the COVID-19 virus while keeping you and our staff as safe as possible.
Last month we closed our offices in Anchorage and Bethel to all walk-in traffic. We encourage all our members to take advantage of our payment kiosk in Bethel, payment by phone and payment through our website.
Due to the citywide ban of gatherings of more than 50 people, we will not be holding our Annual Meeting on April 8 in Anchorage as planned. We will soon decide whether to reschedule the meeting or simply cancel it until next year. Your ballots are still due by April 7 and you will determine who will fill the two board seats, depending on when they become officially open.
Our field technicians are operating as normal, traveling around the state to respond to critical issues in our communities. All our staff are working either at their desks (while maintaining safe personal distances per federal guidelines) or remotely from their homes. Employees are available during normal business hours (8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday) to answer questions, take payments and schedule requests for new services.
Outside of regular working hours, our answering service answers all incoming calls and routes them to the AVEC on-call expert. For the safety and concern of our technicians and members, we will be doing our absolute best to resolve any technical issues that you may have over the phone.
We want to make sure we can all stay connected during these times; we understand hardships happen and as always, will continue to work with our consumers regarding missed or late payments. Please contact Member Services by telephone or email (MemberInfo@AVEC.org) so we can work with you. We appreciate your loyalty and support and, on behalf of our entire team, please stay healthy and let’s take good care of each other!
