PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

By Todd Ware, President & Chief Executive Officer

As we turn the page and look forward to 2023, I'd like to reflect on four major events we experienced in 2022; Intel; the June storm; paying capital credits; record-levels of inflation. Once the year end financials are complete, I will share them with you as well as our progress towards completing 2022 strategic goals.

We paid capital credits to our electric members for the first time since 1999. This has been a long-term goal for many of your directors since they were elected to the board. The capital credit retirement totaled $671,840. For those of us who have been around to see the growth and improved financial strength of Energy Cooperative, this is a big milestone. It helps us embrace the seven cooperative principles we live by each day while fulfilling principle #3: Members’ Economic Participation.

In 2022, Intel announced they are coming to our service territory. As a result of this news, we anticipate near record level growth in residential members for both our electric and gas cooperatives. While this is exciting, it has created a level of uncertainty for us and many of our members. We are beginning the process of moving our electric and gas infrastructure to accommodate the new growth surrounding Intel and planning for the additional load that could come to our system. I’ve always said commercial and industrial growth helps offset the cost for our residential members, and we will continue to see that in the next few years.

A major storm devastated parts of our northern service territory in June. The severe thunderstorms produced winds estimated at 60 to 70 mph.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor, we’ve experienced the largest annual increase in inflation since 1981. While the price of everyday household items increased (coffee up 15.8%, butter up 21.3%, and eggs up 33.1%), the cooperative also faced unprecedented levels of increased cost for supplies, vehicles, material and labor. While I believe we will still have financial results that met our goals and covenants with our bank, we did not complete many projects planned for 2022 to stay within our financial goals.

As 2023 brings new growth to our service territory, we continue to face ever-rising costs. The board approved a small rate adjustment for both gas and electric members during their December meeting. It is our goal to keep your rates as low as possible, while still providing you the service and reliability you expect from us. We will work to maintain costs the best we can and hope to see costs flatten out during 2023. Our goal is to limit any potential rate adjustments in 2024. We understand that adjusting your bill adds to your increasing costs, however, the approved adjustments represent less than a two percent increase. You can see the new rates on the back of your Energy Cooperative bill until they go into effect on April 1, 2023.

As 2023 brings new growth to our service territory, we continue to face ever-rising costs. The board approved a small rate adjustment for both gas and electric members during their December meeting. It is our goal to keep your rates as low as possible, while still providing you the service and reliability you expect from us. We will work to maintain costs the best we can and hope to see costs flatten out during 2023. Our goal is to limit any potential rate adjustments in 2024. We understand that adjusting your bill adds to your increasing costs, however, the approved adjustments represent less than a two percent increase. You can see the new rates on the back of your Energy Cooperative bill until they go into effect on April 1, 2023.