CEO Column April 2025
As winter loses its grip and spring steadily approaches, your co-op is making plans for important coming events. Mark your calendars for Lake Region Electric Cooperative’s 88th Annual Meeting on April 24th and our 4th Annual Energy Forum scheduled for June 6th at Thumper Pond Resort.
In this month’s newsletter you’ll find information on our 2025 Annual Meeting, including the primary and satellite meeting locations, program details and election information for eligible districts. I will be joined by the LREC Board of Directors and senior staff for a presentation on your co-op’s financial and operational performance over the past year, as well as a look at the future.
As an incentive for registration at one of the locations or online, you’ll receive a one-time bill credit of $10. Members able to attend in-person and bring their Annual Meeting postcard will be entered to win an additional $50 bill credit.
Our 4th Annual Energy Forum will be at Thumper Pond Resort on June 6th. This year’s event is focused on providing you with an opportunity to learn and ask about such topics as the MN 2040 Carbon Free Standard, nuclear energy, GRE transmission line build-out plans, and a Minnesota legislative update on energy related issues. A panel of industry leaders from organizations including Great River Energy (GRE), Minnesota Rural Electric Association (MREA), and Dairyland Power will be on hand to facilitate discussion and lead breakout sessions throughout the day.
I’m looking forward to meeting you at one of our upcoming events!
Tariff on Canadian Energy Imports
As you know, a 10% tariff levy was placed on Canadian natural gas, oil, and electricity imports in early March. As of the writing of this column (March 10th), this is still a fluid situation, but we wanted to share information provided by our power supplier Great River Energy.
“Great River Energy received 2% of our energy from Manitoba Hydro resources in 2024. Less than 1% of MISO’s (Midwest Independent System Operator) total 2024 energy was supplied via Canadian imports. We do not expect the tariffs to have a significant impact on electricity prices in the wholesale market at the present time.”
As the situation evolves, we’ll continue to provide updates via our newsletter, website, and Facebook page.
Thanks,
Dan Husted
LREC Interim CEO