by Brad Dolinski, CEO
Good morning, North Itasca!
There is a little glimmer of fall in the air today. We haven’t seen a hard frost yet, but the leaves are beginning to change, and it’s cool out. My wife has been busy canning tomatoes. Thankfully the deer stepped away from the garden before they caused too much damage. My buddy Tony suggested various fencing options with me after my article this summer. I was able to skate by without a fence this year; we’ll see what happens next spring. I do enjoy the fresh veggies we get from the little gardens we have. Once again, harvest just means winter is on the way.
I’ve spent the past month at several meetings. I need to start with the more impactful meeting to you. I was recently at Great River Energy for the Member Manager Group meeting. GRE gave us the first glance at rates for 2025. I am expecting a roughly 8.5-9.2% rate increase from Great River Energy. This rate increase is primarily due to rising costs and the need to build out transmission across the state. I have talked about the impacts and need of additional transmission lines over this past year. The primary driver behind the need is a change to the generation resources we are shifting to. GRE is roughly half of the bill you receive from North Itasca. This will suggest an increase in your power bill by roughly 4-5% before I look at any budgets at home.
I have been asked what I’m doing about these increases? I work very hard to share information with my Member-Owners and our elected representatives in Minnesota. We have an opportunity to learn together and make a difference in October. On October 22nd I want to invite you to a learning opportunity at 1:30 p.m. in Marcell, Minn. at the Family Center. I have reached out to professionals in the industry to help us better understand nuclear energy. What is it? What are the pros and cons of nuclear energy? What are the inherent dangers and what controls are there to avoid disaster? How is nuclear energy different today vs. the 1970s and 1980s? I plan to discuss these questions with a panel of experts.
Minnesota has a nuclear moratorium in place currently. No new nuclear can be built in Minnesota today. Nuclear energy is carbon free, and from what little I understand it can be very flexible to the loads we serve. I want to learn more, with you by my side. I have also invited Senator Grant Hauschild and Representative Spencer Igo to join us at this meeting. I will encourage both of our legislators to address the crowd and answer questions after the panel discussion. Our legislators will be there in the room to learn with us and to engage with our communities.
Let me be clear, I am not saying we need to make investments in nuclear today. I want to ensure we have the information to make decisions in the future. What if there is a ballot question someday about nuclear energy? Will I be informed enough to weigh in on that decision? How do my Member-Owners feel about nuclear energy? Without having this discussion with you I would not be able to answer either important question. I need your input in this discussion. I am asking that you would consider joining myself and your friends and neighbors at this event.
I will be spending the next month working with my staff and GRE on the 2025 budget. I am here to tell you the bills will need to go up in January. I will need to pass the increase from GRE to our bills, additionally the rest of our controlled expenses will be considered carefully. I have requirements from our lenders to meet revenues sufficient to meet our obligations to them. We consider all these requirements when building the budget for the coming year.
By your side! Miigwech,
Brad
