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Suwannee Valley Electric Says 72.8% of Meters Now Served by Fiber; 27 of 42 Zones Open
Summary
Suwannee Valley Electric Cooperative told commissioners it has opened fiber service in 27 of 42 zones and now offers minimum 100/100 Mbps service to about 72.8% of served electric meters, with a plan to extend coverage to remaining zones.
Suwannee Valley Electric Cooperative (SVEC) updated the county on its fiber‑to‑the‑home rollout at the July 15 meeting. Michael McWhorter said the utility has 27 of 42 service zones open for fiber service and that 72.8% of meters the utility serves currently have access to fiber Internet with minimum service levels at 100 Mbps down and 100 Mbps up.
Why it matters: Expanded fiber improves broadband availability in rural areas of Suwannee County, supporting residential and business connectivity and public‑safety communications. SVEC said the rollout was initially driven by electric grid control needs and then expanded to provide consumer Internet service using excess fiber capacity.
McWhorter told the board the fiber effort began as part of a distribution‑automation project (FLISR) to improve outage management and that excess fiber capacity made a dual‑use investment feasible. He said the cooperative’s service includes speeds up to 2 Gbps where available and that the cooperative had a goal to reach full meter availability in the near term. McWhorter left commissioners a brochure with construction schedules and said local hiring was part of the build effort.
Commissioners and residents said they had positive experiences with service. One commissioner said, “I signed up for it, and you put it in, and it works great.” McWhorter said the cooperative is prepared to resolve individual meter‑site issues and that meter‑placement or other requests from customers would be handled by the cooperative’s customer service team.
Ending: The cooperative will continue construction in remaining zones and provide schedule updates to commissioners and the public.
