REA Annual Meeting Summary
Hello Fellow OCREA Members,
Here's my short summary of the members meeting yesterday (not minutes!).
A quorum (50) was reached: 54 members attended, proxies brought the number of voters to 61.
General Manager Dallas Aho briefly presented the financial reports. He said line losses have decreased from 13.58% to 11.55% because of better vegetation management. However, rates are still likely to increase by approximately 1¢/kWh because price increases from the supplier (Wolverine).
Income statement and balance sheet:
John Sobeck from NRUCFC confirmed that revenue from 2024 was short by $306,000. So a rate increase will be needed because for the coop the rate must equal the cost of power. OCREA has a very low number of services per mile relative to other coops. (Will his presentation be available on the web site?)
Justin Sironen gave an update on services: 150 new poles, 49 new members, 78 new services, 78 miles of line cleared, all meters have been upgraded. OCREA has a total of 5092 meters. (I hope I got those numbers right; he talked fast.)
Member relations and questions
- Opening board meetings to members. Members have long requested that regular board meetings be open to members. (Mel H and Bruce J have been especially persistent on this matter.) The board has finally agreed to do this starting in January.
- To be decided: open in-person or only for on-line participation? Do members have to give advanced notice that they are coming? Send your opinions to your director before October.
- Bruce J. made a motion that the board consider starting open meetings in July instead of January. The motion passed.
- There was discussion about whether member comments at the annual meeting could be added to the minutes (not approved). Further discussion about how members can communicate with other members didn't seem to be resolved.
- A member asked about conducting a forensic audit to ensure that funds are being correctly used.
- Net Metering changes. People with net metering had a confusing letter last month about changes to the program. Here's some clarification:
- If you are generating solar (or other) power through the net metering program:
- You will continue to receive one-to-one credit for power you feed into the grid.
- But, if you leave the program you will be paid a lower rate (5.6¢/kWh, wholesale) for accumulated banked kWhs. This is a change from the current system where you receive the retail rate.
- To make this change, you will be paid by check at the current rate (21.059¢/kWh) for any banked power you have at the end of June. Your banked account will then be started at zero for the new program.
- A member wondered where to find net metering info on the OCREA web page. It's here.
- If you are generating solar (or other) power through the net metering program:
- A straw poll was taken to ask if members would prefer to have the annual meeting on a Wednesday evening instead of Saturday. People seemed in favor of a midweek evening meeting.
- Chassell High School student Diane Tourla gave a lovely presentation about her participation in the Electric Cooperative Youth Tour trip to Washington DC. She was sponsored by OCREA.
- The member comment period ran long and became disorganized, so I did not make the statement I had prepared. I include it below.
To the OCREA members, board, and employees,
The take-over of the federal government is threatening lives and livelihoods of many REA members.
The US energy system is being set back by the yanking of support for renewable energy, for which fuel is free, and expanded funding of polluting, corporate fossil fuels projects.
Renewable energy is the cheapest and fastest way to expand capacity. But instead of investing in those sources the federal government is forcing a private company, Consumers Energy, to keep running an old coal plant on the shore of Lake Michigan (JH Campbell), even though both the company and the state say it’s not needed and it’s going to cost ratepayers a lot of money.
Taxpayers already subsidized fossil fuels to the tune of $757 billion dollars in 2023.
Meanwhile, help for residential and small utility solar projects is being cut. About 1,500 businesses and 250,000 jobs will be lost by reversing the recent clean energy investments.
But attacks on the energy are only a small part of the overall threats to REA members.
The Budget bomb bill that just passed congress will harm the health of people in Michigan’s first congressional district; it will cut 12,800people from Medicaid and 17,580 from the ACA insurance (Affordable Care Act). [total of 30,380 would loss insurance.]
Michigan is losing $93 million dollars in federal funds for drug treatment programs, which is about a third of that budget.
Because this budget bill also explodes the deficit by $3 Trillion dollars, it will force cuts in Medicare as well as Medicaid.
I could say much much more, but I’ll just finish with this thought:
The United States of America is the richest country in the history of the world. It is shameful to undermine investments in clean energy, and cut food and health care from needy families to fund tax giveaways to billionaires.
I urge the REA members and board to communicate their concerns to local, state, and federal elected officials.
The meeting finished with lunch and many great raffle prizes.
That's all for now!
I have promised not to spam people with this list (and the list is getting out of date). So, you likely won't hear from me till next year.
Have a lovely summer.
Sarah
p.s. This is my own unofficial email list; I do not have access to the coop's members list.
p.p.s. This newsletter is sent via my CRAG site, which is not affiliated with OCREA.
OCREA information sources: