A Message from General Manager Ken Schlimgen
If you have paid attention to the information on our Facebook page, you would have seen that I celebrated 36 years with the cooperative in January. Yes, I have been around the cooperative for a long time. My career has allowed me to work with and meet so many good people and I thank you, our members, for that opportunity.
One thing that I did not learn over those many years is how to manage and protect our employees and members through a pandemic. By working with other cooperatives I know we did many things right and we also did things that we will improve upon. One of those improvements is to once again reschedule our District Meetings. The board and I felt that our initial hope of hosting the District Meetings in April was still too soon and are now looking to host those meetings in June.
A few things we learned were to communicate differently and the value of relationships. When we work together, work smart and plan appropriately, we can remain strong and accomplish our goals. Despite the unexpected challenges of 2020, the cooperative made it through with much success.
The crews are responding to problems caused by Mother Nature and focusing on maintenance activities. Tree trimming, transformer testing and line inspections are being done to prevent future problems. Our heavy equipment, trailers, lifting tools, power tools and other pieces of equipment are being inspected, repaired and replaced so our employees can work safely and efficiently through the coming construction season.
The plan of work indicates it will be another busy year. We will continue to accelerate the replacement of our oldest overhead lines. We are entering the third year of a four-year plan to replace our metering system. We are replacing load management devices that were installed in homes to control water heaters during peak times. We are targeting the units that are 30 years of age as we believe a high percentage are no longer working.
I want to thank those of you who have contacted our office to discuss your projects for 2021. This is very valuable because of the longer wait times on almost all of the materials we use. We currently know of five new homes and other projects that will require line extensions. If you have a project that may need a different transformer, metering upgrade or require the extension of a power line, please contact us. This helps us to purchase material at the best price and prevent delays to your project.
Basin Electric, East River Electric and Central Electric are forecasting another year with no change in electric rates. From all indications, President Biden intends to put more emphasis on protecting the environment and set new rules for all parts of the energy industry. Some may perceive this as a change in course, but I think it is just a continuation of what our cooperative family has been doing all along.
We will continue to be good stewards to the environment by utilizing renewables and technology. Your cooperative power supply has reached a 30 percent renewable threshold in 2020, exceeding the goal of the former Clean Power Plan. In 2020, Basin Electric agreed to purchase power from South Dakota’s first utility scale solar farm. Once it is operational it will raise our renewable energy mix even higher. These decisions are made based on what our membership wants and on economics, not because of government mandates.
Your board and I will do our part in decision making and in advocating for Central Electric at the state and national levels. We will partner with our neighboring cooperatives and our national organization who are bound by the same principles, mission and values.
Cooperatives are most successful when we work together to accomplish goals that we cannot achieve alone. Decisions we make individually can affect every member to some degree, as well as our cooperative’s long-term integrity and strength. The Central Electric Board and I will continue to do what is right for our member owners.
Until next month, stay safe!