Manager Connection - Town Hall Topics Recap

Steele-Waseca Cooperative Electric hosted four town hall meetings in September, and I want to start with a simple thank you. 

You came out in great numbers: nearly 560 members and guests joined us for a strong turnout throughout the series. Every night, the room was full of good questions, honest conversation and the kind of engagement that makes a cooperative work. 

One of the best parts of these evenings for me was the chance to meet so many of you in person. Before and after each presentation, I got to shake hands, hear your stories and answer your questions one-on-one, which left me with a better understanding of what matters most to you. So, what did we talk about? 

Consolidation with Goodhue

After introducing some new faces in key roles, including Operations Division Manager Bret Wobschall and Line Superintendent Kevin Kjersten, we turned to the topic that drew the most questions: our proposed consolidation with Goodhue County Cooperative Electric Association. 

Cost pressures are rising across the electric industry, and combining two strong, neighboring cooperatives offers real benefits: efficiency, financial stability, better reliability, more robust emergency response, improved member service, operational resilience, and greater bargaining power. But members wondered about how capital credits and votes might be impacted, and what types of loads does Goodhue serve, or even what tree service will we be using in the future? 

Your cooperative will remain member-owned, not-for-profit, and focused on community. Your elected board remains, our local offices and employees remain, capital credits will not be reduced or lost – they have been allocated to you and cannot be taken away. Your vote would become one of 17,000 versus one of 12,000. Your capital credits moving forward would be divided among more members, but the allocation would continue to be based on your contribution to the margin.  There are more members to share, but there are also more margins. 

As for loads, when we look at the Steele-Waseca load make-up today, we have a significant portion of kWh sales that come from commercial loads. Goodhue has well over 90% of their load going to residential services. When combined, this becomes almost a 50/50 split between commercial and residential. Is that good? Typically, yes! Residential loads are steady and don’t carry as much risk as a commercial load does. We want all our local businesses and commercial loads to be successful, but in reality, there is always a risk that they could leave. Being more balanced helps alleviate some of that risk. 

The Regional Grid, MISO, and Transmission

Midcontinent Independent System Operator, or MISO—think of them as the air traffic controller of the grid across 15 states and the Canadian province of Manitoba. It doesn’t own the power plants or the lines, but it manages the flow of high-voltage electricity from where it is produced to where it is needed, 24 hours a day. 

MISO also plans for the future through long-range transmission planning, including new lines proposed in southern Minnesota. After learning a bit about MISO, members had questions about generation sources, renewables, and nuclear power. How much of our electricity comes from renewables? We purchase all of our energy from Great River Energy (GRE) and from our members with solar or wind. GRE is currently sourcing 26% of its energy from wind but also purchases 35% of its power from the energy market which has a significant contribution from wind and solar. As for nuclear, we currently have a moratorium here in Minnesota, but it is being studied for future use as demand rises and the need for baseload, always on generation, rises across the region. 

What drives wholesale rates?

Another common question was what is behind rising wholesale power costs. The biggest drivers are largely outside our walls: the cost of building and maintaining transmission, the cost of generation and capacity as the regional power supply changes. Regulations can also drive costs; when government says you must have something it puts upward pressure on the costs associated with delivering on that requirement. 

We are not exempt from the cost pressures here at home. Locally, we face material, capital infrastructure (think transformers) and fleet expenses that have seen 80-160% increases in the past five years. These are exactly the pressures that consolidation is designed to help us manage. 

Behind the outage

A highlight of every meeting was the presentation by members of our crew: Adam Davis, Collin Wencl, Tannen Holzem, and Line Supervisor Kevin Kjersten. 

Crew members walked members through what happens from the moment you report an outage, including our partnership with Cooperative Response Center (CRC), which answers calls 24/7/365. They explained how crews size up the damage and prioritize repairs based on the number of members affected, working from the substation down to the feeder, the line section, and finally the individual service. Their message was simple: safety first, reliability always. 

At all four meetings, members thanked the crew and gave them a round of applause. As one member put it, “You guys do a really good job.” I couldn’t agree more. Thank you, Adam, Collin, Tannen and Kevin for representing us so well.

I also want to recognize our board of directors, who attended all four meetings. Your directors made themselves available to visit with members before and after every session. Their commitment to being present and accessible is a true reflection of what it means to be member-owned.  

And last but far from least a big thank you to the employees that help make these town hall meetings a success!

I’ll end on a personal note and simply say thank you again for your time, your trust, and your membership. 

#swceTRUST