SMECO holds 88th Annual Meeting

More than 8,000 voted in the election.

On August 19, 2026, SMECO held its 88th Annual Meeting at the Mechanicsville Volunteer Fire Department Social Hall. The Board of Directors election was conducted online and by mail prior to the meeting. Results were announced at the meeting.

The following SMECO members were elected to three-year terms on SMECO’s Board:

Nancy W. Zinn, Calvert County
Charles B. Bowling, Jr., Charles County
Daniel W. Dyer, Prince George’s County
Joseph Douglas Frederick and Joseph Gilbert Murphy, St. Mary’s County

Two proposed bylaw amendments were also included on this year’s ballot, and they passed.

W. Rayner Blair, III, Chairman of the SMECO Board of Directors, welcomed SMECO’s members to the event and called the meeting to order. SMECO’s president and CEO, Sonja Cox, introduced the video version of the cooperative’s 2025 Annual Report.

Cox also answered questions from members in attendance about capital credits and the related

bylaw amendment approved in the 2026 election, as well as the cooperative’s stance on data centers.

Cox advised members that, as an electric distribution utility with the exclusive right to provide electric service within its defined service territory, SMECO is required to provide service to anyone who requests connection to the grid. However, SMECO’s position, consistent with Maryland law, is that any data center seeking to build in Southern Maryland must directly pay the full cost of any electric transmission or distribution system buildout required to interconnect the facility and provide electric service.

Members also asked about Time-of-Use (TOU) rates, which give members an opportunity to save money by shifting electricity use to off-peak hours, when energy costs are lower. Residential and some commercial customers can log in to Account Manager to see how a TOU rate compares with their current rate based on their individual energy-use patterns.

Read more about the 88th Annual Meeting here. smeco.coop/news-releases/smeco-holds-88th-annual-meeting

Watch the 2025 Annual Report video shown at the Annual Meeting.