Over the CEO's Desk: Power Cost Adjustment passthrough approved by Board  

Back in December of 2007 the Cooperative initiated a rate adjustment of 12.3% primarily to recover the cost of purchasing power for our members. Our adjustment was based on a growth rate of around 4% which is what we told our power supplier, Great River Energy (GRE). GRE in turn used our growth rate to set the price of power to be supplied to North Itasca Electric for the coming year, 2008. Because our growth rate and GRE’s is currently exceeding 8%, GRE is having to go to the marketplace and buy additional power for us at rates which were not anticipated. In addition, tube leaks and an extended outage at our Coal Creek Generating Station have resulted in even more energy being purchased in the open marketplace.

Thru March of this year we have been billed $110,886.38 over and above the general rate from GRE for purchased power. That’s approximately 1.2 cents per KWh sold so far this year.

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RoundUp® Awards  

The North Itasca Electric Trust Board met at the cooperative headquarters the evening of April 16th to award $10,695.19 in Operation Round Up donations.

The board had 58 grant requests with over $43,500 requested for numerous projects totaling over $590,749. This set the tone for a lot of discussion and hard work for the board. With more and more requests coming in and the always increasing need in the surrounding area, the decision of to whom and how much to give is always difficult.

The Trust Board would like to remind everyone applying for funds to make sure they use the most current grant application form as these forms have been updated from time to time and only the most current form is accepted. To get the most current form, you can contact the coop office, any of the directors on the Trust Board, or down load off the web site www.northitascaelectric.com. Also, please read the directions on the form carefully as these will tell you what is and is not allowed to be covered by the by-laws of the Trust Board.

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New Director Districts  

At last year’s Annual Meeting the Board of Directors proposed that director districts be changed to more accurately reflect the number of Members in each district. The Cooperative has nine director districts and the number of Members in each district varied from 316 Members in District 7 to 888 Members in District 4. Under their proposal there would be approximately 518 Members in each district. After receiving comments through August of 2007 the board voted in favor of revising the districts as shown on the district map.

In your bills last month we included a letter advising you that the Board Nominating Committee would meet on May 6, 2008 and how to become a Director Nominee. Your voting district number (1-9) is shown on each of your bills about an inch below the mailing address. This year Members in districts 4, 5 and 6 will be voting for directors and will receive ballots in the mail prior to the Annual Meeting. To ensure we have assigned your Membership to the correct District would you please compare the district number on your billing statement to the district map. Hopefully the map will print clear enough for you to determine your township and section. If you have a question regarding which district you reside in, please contact us. The map is also available on this website HERE.

Your current Board of Directors are as follows: District 1 – Ray Swang; District 2 – Wes Waller; District 3 – Gino Anselmo; District 4 – Jim Cox; District 5 – Ed Shearen; District 6 – Walter Breeze; District 7 – Bruce Leino; District 8 – Terry Schmitz; District 9 – Roy Bain.

Local Greenhouses Open  

Effie:

Marcell:

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A New Way of Life is upon us  

We all have heard on the radio, television, newspapers and everywhere we go about global warming, that the earth is heating up and the climate all around us is changing fast. Not all people go along with what the scientists, legislatures and politicians are telling us about climate change, but with the large majority that believes very strongly in these issues, and our legislators so actively involved in climate change legislation, this issue is here to stay.

It is said by some scientists that the reason for this climate change is due to the amount of CO2 (carbon dioxide) being placed into the atmosphere. Our least expensive and abundant source of energy is coal and has been used from the early days of power production. As we continue to burn coal, we are sending more CO2 into the atmosphere.

Legislation has already started regulating how much CO2 can be placed into the atmosphere which limits the amount of inexpensive coal that can be used. Reducing the amount of this inexpensive resource means that alternative high priced technologies must be used, such as natural gas, propane, fuel oil and renewable energies such as wind power, biomass, ethanol, refuse and hydro, or just cut back on the amount of energy people use to prevent the need for producing additional power.

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