Представители SWEPCO выступили на первом мероприятии по развитию экономики Маршалла

SWEPCO representatives provide spark at Marshall EDC’s inaugural Lunch and Learn event Published 5:43 am Friday, September 4, 2026 Mark Robinson says Southwestern Electric Power Co. doesn’t succeed “unless our community succeeds.” Robinson, the external affairs manager for the SWEPCO Longview District, was one of two guest speakers recently during Marshall Economic Development’s first of nine Lunch and Learn events. The events are part of Marshall EDC’s Momentum Marshall strategic plan announced earlier this year aimed at boosting economic growth, quality of life and the city’s population. Eric Basinger, the economic development manager for SWEPCO, was the second guest speaker for the Lunch and Learn, which focused on how the power provider plays a role in economic development and what factors draw development to cities and regions. “As I began to think about what we should do first, I kind of thought about Economic Development 101,” Marshall EDC Vice President Dr. Felecia Herndon said about the first Lunch and Learn. “More importantly, (focus on) utilities and how important utilities are to communities and the impact on economic development. “What we want is to be able to share information with the community so they can know, number one, what the elements of the strategic plan really are and what they look like in terms of how you help the community grow.” Herndon encourages every stakeholder to attend the Lunch and Learns, as Momentum Marshall is “a community project.” “We want to involve everybody who is going to be impacted,” she said. “So, if you’re going to be living here, you’re going to be going to school here, you’re going to be working here, then our ability to have the strategic plan implemented successfully over the next five years is dependent on everybody’s participation.” Robinson explained how SWEPCO’s vertical integration benefits the communities it serves. “We own the power plants; we own the transmission lines; we own the substations; we own the distribution; we own the meter on your house,” he said. “And that is nice for us, because we get to have those conversations, whether it’s a storm conversation or economic development, we don’t have to call a different company. You don’t have to work with a third-party provider. It is all in-house conversations for us.” As a regulated utility company, SWEPCO is the only electricity provider in a region that includes Marshall, Longview, Waskom, Henderson and others. “All of our decisions, our tariff, our rates – everything is decided for us by the Public Utility Commission of Texas,” Robinson said. “And so, what we charge, any of our benefits that we can provide, any of the services, all of those are created and approved by the Public Utility Commission of Texas.” With SWEPCO being the only power provider in the region, Robinson said it is important that the company invests in the communities it serves. “Economic development is very competitive,” he said. “We want to be a partner with you in that. We are very competitive as well. We don’t succeed unless our community succeeds. That’s the other part about being regulated. I cannot expand my service territory … If you’re on the other side of my service territory fence, I can’t serve you, sorry. The Public Utility Commission of Texas says I can’t. So, that means I have to make the inside of our fence look a whole lot better than outside of our fence.” Basinger talked about the importance of regional partnerships when it comes to economic development. “It’s always better to show yourself as bigger than you are when you’re first meeting with someone that has never even looked into doing business in Texas,” he said. Basinger also explained how cities are picked when it comes to economic development projects. Most of the time, inquiries will come from site selection consultants. These consultants are people who help businesses research areas to build in, he said. Usually, the consultants are looking at site selection factors that make an area appealing. The number one factor is availability of labor, Basinger said, referencing an online survey that lists the common factors for site selection. “So, that should be your number one priority,” Robinson added. “If that’s their number one priority, that should be your number one priority.” Following availability of labor is electric power availability, Basinger said. This is when SWEPCO steps in and provides reports or rates to site consultants. “There’s a lot of areas with constrained capacity these days,” Basinger said. “So (site consultants) are kind of checking boxes as they go through, and we’re trying to do our best to not be the eliminated factor.”