Great River Energy members and leaders gather for annual meeting, Lamke elected board vice chair
Maple Grove, Minn. – Nearly 300 electric cooperative leaders assembled on June 10 for Great River Energy’s annual meeting. The meeting, held at the cooperative’s headquarters facility in Maple Grove, Minn., highlighted the accomplishments of 2008.
Great River Energy Board Chair Don Holl focused his remarks on the affordability of electricity. “This is a challenging time for electric utilities across the country, including Great River Energy,” Holl stated. “However, Great River Energy’s board of directors took deliberate action in 2008 to keep our organization financially sound, to help reduce costs and to assure electricity remains reliable and affordable.”
Following Mr. Holl’s remarks, Great River Energy President and CEO David Saggau also spoke on the issue of rising costs. “We are focused on addressing costs – nothing is more important to us right now than working to keep rates as affordable as possible for our members,” said Saggau. “However, our rate is going to continue to increase – due to costs we have little control over – and we do our members no favor by pretending otherwise.”
Great River Energy Vice President and CFO Larry Schmid shared information on the cooperative’s financial position. “Great River Energy’s financial condition is strong. In fact, it has never been stronger,” said Schmid. “We met all of our required financial ratios in 2008, our balance sheet is solid and our equity continues to grow as planned.”
During a reorganization meeting following the annual meeting, Don Holl (Connexus Energy, Ramsey) was re-elected board chair; Dennis Lamke (Mille Lacs Energy Cooperative, Aitkin) was elected board vice chair; Bill O’Brien (Runestone Electric Association, Alexandria) was re-elected secretary; and Clay Van De Bogart (Dakota Electric Association, Farmington) was re-elected board treasurer.
Also during the annual meeting, the following directors were re-elected to Great River Energy’s 30-member board:
Great River Energy is a not-for-profit cooperative which provides wholesale electricity to more than 1.7 million people through 28 member distribution cooperatives in Minnesota and Wisconsin. With more than $2.8 billion in assets, Great River Energy is the second largest utility in the state, based on generating capacity, and the fifth largest generation and transmission (G&T) cooperative in the United States. Great River Energy’s member cooperatives range from those in the outer-ring suburbs of the Twin Cities to the Arrowhead region of Minnesota to the farmland of southwestern Minnesota. Great River Energy’s largest distribution cooperative serves more than 120,000 member-consumers; the smallest serves just over 2,400. For more information, visit www.GreatRiverEnergy.com.
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Contact:
Therese LaCanne
763-445-5710
