Flashback Friday: Cookie Book

Visitors to our headquarters line up to view a cookie display 

and get copies of our Cookie Book in 1938.

First introduced in 1928, when  We Energies was known as The Milwaukee Electric Railway & Light Co., the Cookie Book gained great popularity among our customers.

By the early 1930s, scores of holiday bakers took the trolleys to the Public Service Building in downtown Milwaukee to receive the complimentary recipe book, complete with helpful cooking and energy tips. Our Home Service Bureau would arrange displays of cookies, candies and fruitcake, and demonstrate how to use new kitchen appliances, which we sold in our retail store.

In the mid-1960s, winter displays adorned the windows of the Public Service Building to promote the cookie book distribution. The tradition ended in the early 1970s when rising costs led us to promote energy conservation rather than consumption.

The book made a comeback in 1984 and a couple new editions were printed in the 1990s and another in 2002. Since 2006, the book has been printed each year, restoring the annual tradition. Typically distributed in November, the Cookie Book is made available at more than two dozen locations across our service area.

This year, more than 200,000 books were printed. Get distribution details at our website where you also can view previous editions.

Recipes and cookie books

Cookie Book Q and A

Why does We Energies produce a Cookie Book?
The Cookie Book originally was produced as a goodwill gesture to customers. To this day, customers are eager to get the latest edition.

How are recipes chosen? 

Each year is a little different. This year, we asked customers to submit recipes. In the past, we asked active and retired employees for recipes, or we used favorites from previous editions.

When was the first one produced? 

1928

Are they produced every year? 

We have produced a book each year since bringing it back in 2006. The book only was produced a few times in the 70s, 80s and 90s.

Are old editions available? 

We have placed all the editions we could find on our website's Recipes page.

Does it impact customers' energy costs? 

Costs associated with the book are minimized because we use internal resources, and the production costs do not impact customer rates.

How are distribution locations chosen? 

For smaller events, we use our service centers. For larger events, we look for venues that customers can safely and easily access, such as Miller Park in Milwaukee or Fox Cities Stadium in Appleton. Books also are distributed by our field employees on customer appointments.

What happens to extra books and old editions? 

A number of books are archived each year. Typically, we don’t have extra books after our distribution events end.

Will there be another one next year? 

The decision is made each year, based on budget and other constraints.

Crews help make repairs in aftermath of Hurricane Sandy

Our crews have been assisting in restoring service in areas affected by Hurricane Sandy since Oct. 31. 

Crews were first dispatched to assist DTE Energy in the Detroit area, including Port Huron and Lapeer. Following restoration to those communities, the crews headed further east to assist Consolidated Edison in New York. After driving 13 hours, our crews arrived Nov. 3 at a staging area at Citi Field and then began working the next day in nearby Queens, N.Y., where the work continues.

Between our employees and contract crews, we have dedicated about 130 personnel resources to the relief effort.

Line crew repairing power lines in Queens, N.Y.

We celebrate Veterans Day, Nov. 11

We join in celebrating Veterans Day on Nov. 11 and extend our gratitude to our many employees and customers who have served or continue to serve in the various branches of the U.S. armed forces. Our company has benefited from the skills that many employees obtained through their military experience and brought with them to We Energies.

We have been a long-time supporter of veterans activities, with the Wisconsin Energy Foundation being one of the first Milwaukee-area sponsors of the Stars and Stripes Honor Flight program, which flies WWII veterans and terminally ill veterans from other wars to see their memorials in Washington, D.C. The foundation underwrote the production of the “Every Day is a Bonus – the Story of Stars and Stripes Honor Flight” documentary in 2011 and the corporation sponsored the "Field of Honor" event at Miller Park earlier this year.

We also have been involved in the Wounded Warrior Project, which assists and raises awareness of the needs of injured service members, and we have been recognized in the past as a top 100 military-friendly employer.

Veterans Day is a federal holiday honoring armed service veterans. It coincides with holidays such as Armistice Day and Remembrance Day, celebrated in other parts of the world, and marks the anniversary of the signing of the armistice in 1918 that ended World War I.

Flashback Friday: Electric water heater

This 1941 ad touts the benefits of electric water heaters – warm bathing water for families – and promotes electric water heaters as safer, easier and more efficient than gas models. An Englishman, Benjamin Maughan, invented the first instant water heater in 1868 called “The Geyser,” a device where the water was heated as it flowed into the bath. They were known to be dangerous.

Maughan’s invention influenced the designs of a Norwegian mechanical engineer named Edwin Ruud, who immigrated to Pittsburgh and invented the electric water heater. Ruud's design consisted of a large tank to store water and an electric heat source to warm it to the desired temperature.

Klappa wins CEO award

Gale Klappa, chairman, president and CEO, received the Responsible CEO of the Year award from Corporate Responsibility Magazine in October.

Award presentation and acceptance speech:

Beware of phishing scams that ask for account numbers, log-in information

By now, most people can spot a phishing scam quickly by looking at the email address that the sender used to send the message. It’s easy to detect a bogus message that should be deleted without taking the requested action – which results in sharing of personal information, including banking information or other vital data.

Customers have reported, from time to time, receipt of an email offering them the opportunity to have their energy bill paid, either as a “winner” of a special offer or another fabricated situation. In no instance should you provide the requested information.

We never contact customers and ask for their user ID, password, Social Security number or other sensitive information over the phone or in an email.

Always be certain you are using our website to access your account online. Some scammers include links to web addresses that are similar but not the same as our address, which is we-energies.com. Sites that use a web address such as we-energy.com, wenergy.com or other name are not ours and should not be used.

Please be aware of such scams and help your friends and neighbors avoid them, too.