By Brad Dolinski

Good afternoon NIECI,
We were blessed with some luck during deer season. I would say the bigger blessing was the time we got to spend together with friends and family. We shared some great food, many rounds of cards and a lot of great stories. Season isn’t over yet; we still have one week to enjoy. I’m thankful for the time spent together, and the many laughs and fond memories of those that couldn’t be with us. Deer season is a special time of the year.
Last month I talked about a change in our capital credit process. Thank you to all the Member-Owners that reached out. We heard overwhelming support for placing capital credits on active accounts. This process will run in the month of December. We will be able to report back with potential savings from the change. Again, thank you for voicing your opinions and support.
We are continuing to work on the 2026 budget. The crystal ball is becoming a little clearer. Again, Great River Energy is raising rates for North Itasca Electric a blended almost 5%. GRE is half our yearly expenses. This equates to a 2.5% rate increase as a pass through from GRE. We are still ensuring we have accurate information to provide for our Board of Directors. With the increases we have recognized, we may recommend up to an additional 2.5% for distribution costs. This could be a rate increase of up to 5%. We will continue to look for opportunities to reduce this rate increase. I would expect the board to act on the budget in December.
I’m heading back down to GRE on Monday. We will continue to discuss rate studies and rate strategies. The goal is to agree on rate changes that will begin discussions about contract extensions.
GRE is a diverse cooperative. We have large metro cooperatives and small rural cooperatives like North Itasca Electric. The needs and membership of the two ends of this spectrum are very different at times.
We have the benefit of our off-peak programs. Many of the metro cooperatives do not have Member-Owners agree to subscribe to these programs because they have natural gas running through their communities. Our loads are very different because of this. North Itasca Electric does not have large industrial loads like metro cooperatives, often our load is very seasonal and weather dependent.
The Member Manager Group is tasked with working together to develop rates with GRE that can benefit all. With rich diversity between members, changes that help one member of GRE may hurt another. We will find a way to work together to adapt to the changing industry and market approach. Once the rates are agreed to, we will discuss contract extensions. We are building transmission systems today that need to be financed for many years to come. Without contract extensions we are limited to the number of years we may borrow to construct these projects. We are only allowed to borrow for as many years as we have member contracts to pay for the assigned loans. This makes this work very important and timely.

By your side! Miigwech
Brad