Bill Siebert

Bill Siebert
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Bill Siebert • District II • Smithboro

A mechanic by trade, Bill Siebert has been a member of Southwestern Electric Cooperative since 1985.And even though 2001 will be his first bid as a candidate for director, Siebert says he would view a seat on the board as a continuation, as much as a new beginning.Bill was the husband of Southwestern director Judy Siebert, who passed away in May after a long fight with cancer.

"Judy enjoyed working with the other directors and the co-op members, and I'd like to do the same thing," he said.

Addressing the director's role in a cooperative, Siebert said being responsive to the membership is priority number one."More than anything, I'd make it a point to listen to the people.Everybody has a point of view," said Siebert, "and you have to respect each and every one."

In terms of accomplishments made by the cooperative during his time as a member, Siebert put buying out of the Soyland Power Cooperative contract at the top of his list."Getting out of the Clinton power plant has been the main thing that's helped Southwestern Electric," said Siebert."We fought them for years – and for years we were the only ones who would.It was certainly worth the effort.

"I like the scholarship program we've got," said Siebert, "and having the guys go to the schools and do electrical safety demonstrations is an excellent idea, too.It may save some lives someday."

On the topic of major issues facing the cooperative, Siebert identified deregulation as his major cause for concern."I've got a cousin who lives in California.He works at a processing plant where they dry plums to make prunes.He said they'll shut the power off all of a sudden.They lose $60,000 to $70,000 worth of prunes every time that happens.And they don't give them any warning."

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Siebert said that when he contrasts California's situation with his own electric bill, he feels that Southwestern Electric is doing something very right.

"What they did out in California was deregulate the power producers.But they didn't really deregulate the suppliers.So the producers could charge whatever they wanted for electricity and the people who were supplying it to the customer couldn't raise their rates," he said."Now in Illinois, they're deregulating where you can opt to buy power from wherever you want.But are they going to tell the guys who are producing the power what they can charge for it?Or are they going to be deregulated, too?If they are," said Siebert, "we're all in a world of trouble."

As a follow up to that thought, Siebert said he felt Southwestern Electric should investigate owning baseload generation capacity."It seems a shame that we have all of this Illinois coal and we've got to buy electricity from Ohio," Siebert said."Owning our own generation is one of the options," said Siebert, "and you've got to keep your options open."

Siebert said he felt that building Freedom Power Station – the peaking unit constructed by Southwestern Electric in 1999 – was a step in the right direction."That will keep our peak costs down," he said, "and a lot of our overall power cost is based on peak cost."

Further addressing deregulation, Siebert said that "if we don't do it right, it's going to be messy.We have to position ourselves where we can go any way we have to," he said."At this point, I don't know of any other way than to keep our options open."

In terms of programs and services, Siebert said he'd like to see the cooperative promote the use of energy efficient practices and products.

"I have an open mind and I'm a good listener," said Siebert, listing the traits he would bring to the board."I think we have a good board and I think I'd be an asset to them."

Bill Siebert was a township supervisor for Pleasant Mound for more than 10 years.He has organized an annual road rally fundraiser for nearly two decades.He resides near Smithboro.

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