This is the letter supplied by the attorney of a group of members seeking answers from the Decatur County REMC board.
RE: Ongoing safety and reliability issues with the New Point Sub-Station.
Dear Board of Directors:
The Members signed below write to inquire as to any progress that has been made
regarding the longstanding problems with the New Point Sub-Station.
Members who are provided power from the New Point Sub-Station have endured
multiple outages and brown outs since at least 2017. And the DCREMC management
has known the New Point Sub Station needed to be upgraded/rebuilt since 2018. These
reoccurring issues of the New Point Sub Station have been documented through the
DCREMC complaint system and at DCREMC Board meetings by Members. DCREMC
management’s formal response was, “As discussed in the March [2022] Board Meeting,
we have recorded an action item on this subject. At this point I [Brett Aplanalp] have no
further information on this matter.” Moreover, at the March 2022 Board Meeting the
representative from Hoosier Energy recognized that this was a problem with the New
Point Sub-Station and noted that Hoosier Energy had a similar problem with six other
sub-stations that it knew of at the time. While video of that meeting has been removed
from the DCREMC website, the discussion can be found at minuet 42 of the following
link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-RWlmeA5SM
In the intervening years the members served power from the New Point Substation
have endured many outages and brown outs. And these outages do not simply result in
inconvenience but can have lasting and catastrophic consequences. Needless to say, this
does not seem to be in keeping with the DCREMC’s mission statement that “We exist to
provide safe, reliable, affordable and friendly service to our members and community.”
Moreover, on February 28, 2025, DCREMC provided a news release that stated:
“The board and management team are committed to making decisions that are in
the best interest of our entire membership and to providing safe and reliable
power to each and every one of our 6,800 members. Our Board of Directors were
elected to govern and guide the cooperative and will continue to do so — putting
the operations of the cooperative and service to our members first.”
In keeping with the statement’s “members first” message the below signing Members
now ask the following questions:
(1) Who is responsible for enforcing the DCREMC’s Misson Statement?
(2) Who is responsible for correcting known infrastructure safety issues?
(3) Brett Aplanalp stated in his response reproduced above that there was a
recorded action item concerning the New Point Sub Station, what was the
result of the action item and what action was taken by the DCREMC
management to prevent future outages and brown outs for those members
served by the New Point Sub Station?
We, again, request that you follow the Bylaws and Rules of DCREMC by getting full
approval of the Board for the response to these questions, follow DCREMC Bylaws
Section 6.07(b) by having the Secretary affix the seal showing board approval, and reply
within 10 business days of receipt of this document with written responses to the
questions above.
This is letter from Attorney Matthew Land
Letter is signed by:
William Wietlisbach
Kenneth Peters
William Greiwe
Joyce Kessens
Lawrence Siddell
Leo Fullenkamp
Charles Dieckman
Theodore Hahn
This is a link to a report on a court case being filed against Decatur County REMC Board and CEO. Some of the signees on this letter are plaintiffs in that case.
https://www.wtreradio.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=31238&action=edit
