2005 Year in Review

January
DEMCO announces that it has become a member of Touchstone Energy, the national branding alliance for America's electric cooperatives.  Lambert Boissiere, III is elected to the Louisiana Public Service Commission to serve as the Commissioner for the 3rd District.

February
Kaitlyn Alford, Danielle Johnson, Ashley Lemoine and Samantha Mash are selected as the winners of the 2005 DEMCO Rural Electric Youth Tour Essay Contest at a banquet held at White Oak Plantation featuring distinguished speaker former Louisiana Governor Buddy Roemer.

March
DEMCO unveils the Touchstone Energy Home at the 27th Annual Habitat Home and Garden Show held in the Baton Rouge River Center.

April
Steve Irving, James Lott and Alice Faye Morris return to their positions as directors on the DEMCO Board as all were unopposed in their 2005 re-election bids.

May
Richard Sitman is re-elected to the DEMCO Board of Directors representing District 10 in a vote with results announced at the 2005 DEMCO Annual Meeting. Officers are elected to the DEMCO Board of Directors at the 2005 Annual Meeting. Richard Sitman is elected President, Randy Lorio is elected Vice-President and Leslie Falks is elected Secretary/Treasurer.

June
2005 Hurricane Season begins on June 1 with forecasters predicting an extremely active season.

July
Hurricane Dennis, the 4th named storm of 2005, spares Louisiana but causes extensive damage in Florida.

August
Hurricane Katrina is called the worst natural disaster in United States' history and devastates parts of Louisiana and Mississippi.  DEMCO personnel along with over 500 contractors and cooperative employees from around the country work to restore power to DEMCO customers in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. All but scattered service is restored within 10 days.

September
Hurricane Rita strikes causing extensive damage to western Louisiana and parts of Texas.  DEMCO crews as well as contractors and cooperative employees from around the country restore power to all but scattered locations in less than five days.

October
Reports show that of DEMCO's 87,000 total customers, 73,000 were without power at the height of Hurricane Katrina and 37,000 experienced outages at the height of Hurricane Rita.

November
DEMCO crews respond to a request for aid and assist in the restoration efforts of Washington-St. Tammany Electric Cooperative and Jefferson Davis Electric Cooperative.