Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative recently named Thomas Dennison as its public and media relations director. In this position, Dennison will serve as the Cooperative’s primary media spokesperson and also act as a liaison with business and industry organizations and local government.
A former journalist, Dennison has served as Annapolis correspondent and State House bureau chief for the Southern Maryland Newspapers.
During his six years in that role, he covered state government and politics, regional business and economic issues, and Navy base realignments.
He graduated summa cum laude from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 1999 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism.
Dennison currently resides in Mechanicsville.
SMECO is a customer-owned electric cooperative providing electricity to over 139,000 services in southern Prince George’s County, and in Charles County, St. Mary’s County, and all but the northeast portion of Calvert County. Co-ops are distinctly different from investor-owned utilities because co-ops are owned by their customers, and these members vote for men and women who sit on the Board of Directors. As one of over 600 Touchstone Energy Co-ops, SMECO promotes values that are important to its customer-members: Accountability, Integrity, Innovation, and Commitment to Community.
Co-ops also issue capital credits to their members. What are capital credits? They are the member’s share of the co-op’s margins, based on how much electricity the member purchased and the rate at which the account was billed. SMECO’s margins—revenue less expenses—are used as working capital for new construction and system improvements. Each year, SMECO determines what percentage of the capital credits can be distributed to the members. Capital credits are then issued by check or credited to the member’s electric bill.