Good evening, North Itasca!
By the time you read this the holiday season will be over. I hope you all had time together with friends and family.
If Santa dropped off some new fishing gear, it looks like a good year for the lakes around the area. I threaten to go fishing more every year, who knows? This could be the one.
My buddy Jim almost had me talked into taking up snowmobiling again. Yesterday we hit mid-forties, our snow is depleted, I’m kind of glad I didn’t fold to Jim’s sound logic. The snow will eventually come; I’ll reassess the decision when that happens.
Once again, I get to be the bearer of bad news. On Monday before Christmas, we will hold our December board meeting. I haven’t been able to improve our budget beyond what I have been talking about the past couple of months. It looks like we are going to see a five percent rate increase in 2026. It will be up to our Board to act on the budget, but that is what the numbers are showing.
Why are we having another rate increase? Costs continue to climb year after year, and we take smaller increases than in the past. Several years ago at the Annual Meeting in Northome I proposed smaller increases but more often to the attendees. Previously rate increases were less often but large. This created a feast and famine curve at the cooperative. Year one, we were flush. By year two or three we were in the sweet spot, by year four we were generally barely making our lenders’ capital requirements. I asked for a change, I want to live in the sweet spot: small increases more often than one large one. The outcome is the same, the bills go up as costs increase, but it’s not as big of a hit in one year. The crowd in attendance generally supported this approach, unfortunately costs have climbed substantially since 2018.
Great River Energy passed a rate increase to their members again in 2026. This is roughly half of the increase you will see on your bill. GRE makes up roughly 50% of the expenses at North Itasca Electric When a 5% rate increase comes along you see 2.5% passed to your bill. An additional 2.5% is directly related to our operations. We continue to maintain and improve the system we all share. These operational costs are shared among all members at the cooperative.
These are investments in reliability. Last night the wind was blowing forty plus miles per hour. I believe we had five outages in total. That is an improvement from what we have seen in the past. To make a more reliable system, we need to invest in the system.
There are several changes and challenges coming in future years. Currently we are looking at changing the way we are billed from GRE. These changes will affect how the off-peak system is operated. I know my friend Nick from Sand Lake will enjoy this change. We will have different programs to offer based off these changes, opportunities for all to save money on these monthly bills. As I know more, I will share with you what these changes or programs could be. Andrew’s article about back-up generators will be revisited in the future. Home batteries could have credit attached to them. Generators could have a value added to them that isn’t available today.
One important parting thought. Thank you, Gina and our office professionals, for managing the capital credit retirement. Many of you got a bill credit on your December bill. I heard from many Member-Owners that the new process was appreciated.
Until next year, happy holidays!
By your side! Miigwech
Brad
