by Brad Dolinski, CEO

April 2025

The first day of spring is here! We made it through more of a normal winter and now bring on the spring. I’m ready to
see open water, green on the trees and start the spring activities.
I know I’m getting a little ahead of myself. We won’t be working in the gardens and fields for a while, but we should
be through the thick of the winter season at least.
My youngest daughter decided to take up golf this year. I’m very excited to see if she takes a shine to pasture pool, even
if it’s not for her she’ll learn about the game I love to hate.
I sat down with Andrew this morning. We are preparing to discuss our Off-Peak system with our directors next week.
We must replace the system that we use today. Currently, Great River Energy manages the existing system. Parts have
become unavailable for the system we have benefitted from over the past 20 years. We worked with GRE to get some extra
time out of the existing system; time is almost up.
The good news is we found a replacement option that is much more economical to transition to. We will be able to team
with other cooperatives at GRE to reduce costs for all. This is what is called a “door swap.” When we begin to deploy the
new hardware, we will not have to replace all the parts. Rather, we will cut the seal, replace the outer door on the control
device and finish the paperwork and computer work back at the office.
Now, the bad news. This technology comes at a price. I will make a recommendation to our board next week; how will
we fund this project? Off-Peak equipment is not used by all North Itasca Member-Owners. The new expenses and
equipment must be paid for by the users of the program. We had estimates for a new system of different technology of over
two million dollars. We will be spending less than four hundred thousand dollars on the door swap option. My
recommendation to the board; add a small equipment charge of roughly $2 per month and also increase the kWh charge on
Off-Peak rates roughly $0.002/kWh. This will cover the expenses of the new system without a large increase in Member-
Owners bills. If you were a large user of Off-Peak electric heat (4,000 kWh/month), I would expect your bill to increase by
about eleven dollars that month.
I heard from many of my Member-Owners this past month. What is going on with Canada and the tariffs on electricity?
I reached out to Great River Energy. They assured me there will be little to no impact on North Itasca. Manitoba Hydro
represents about 1% of the MISO market. Ontario specifically represents about half of that. Great River Energy secured
about 2% of our power from Canada in 2024. We would be able to secure energy from other sources if need be. I am not
concerned about the tariffs on electricity currently. If something changes, I will communicate that with you.
Another conversation I had this month was related to the mail. When you send a piece of mail today, it sounds like it
makes quite a trip before it makes the Bigfork Post Office. I was asked to give you a heads up, you might want to send your
bill payment a little earlier than you expected.
By your side! Miigwech
Brad