Welcome to Richland Electric Cooperative!
If you are new to Richland Electric Cooperative, we would like to say, "Welcome" and we look forward to working with you to meet your needs. If you are already a member of the cooperative, we extend our thanks for your continued membership and we stand ready to assist you with your project.
We are organized as a cooperative and as such we are not just an ordinary business. We are a business owned by our member-consumers. We provide service to over 3,500 members in and around Richland County, Wisconsin. In order to receive electric service from REC you must be a member of the cooperative. You also have a voice in how our cooperative is operated. You are represented by a Board of Directors that are members of the cooperative. Each year you have the opportunity to vote for your choice of director or, if you desire, run for the position yourself. Director elections are held each year at our Annual Meeting held in March. There are nine directors on the REC Board and three are up for election each year.
2008 Annual Meeting Recap
By Dawn Kiefer
When it comes to the future, Richland Electric Cooperative (REC) CEO/general manager Shannon Clark is cautiously optimistic. At the 72nd annual REC meeting held last Thursday, Clark used a visual aid to drive home his point. He held a triangular highway caution sign to draw attention to issues that he said need to be addressed by REC members.
He said, "Pressure is mounting in Congress to do something about climate change." The ‘something’ in question could be proposed legislation that threatens to triple energy bills, Clark said. Compounding the problem, he said, is the fact that there are four times as many people on the planet as there were in 1900. "People exhale carbon dioxide (CO2)," he said, adding to all the CO2 produced by burning materials such as coal, oil and wood for fuel.
Clark noted that the term Global Warming is waning in popularity, with Climate Change being the preferred replacement. Whatever one calls it, he said, people need to address the situation. He urges REC members to contact their elected officials to ask them to find a solution that takes energy costs into consideration. He said people can utilize a website, www.ourenergy.coop, or wait for REC's upcoming newsletter "Special Edition", which will include key questions to ask. Clark also addressed the dilemma posed by providing both affordability and reliability with regards to electrical power. He said, "People want both, but how do we do that?"
Still, Clark noted that REC remained reliable even in the aftermath of the flood last August. He said all power was restored within 24 hours and problems were again rapidly dealt with following high winds two days later. "In light of all we were faced with we did very well," he said. REC board president Gilman Moe addressed the annual meeting theme of "striking the right balance". He said, "Plans are not developed by chance. They are deliberate actions based on pros and cons. Protecting the safety of our staff and the public is always our highest priority. Other decisions are less easy. We have to balance quality with affordable rates and try to avoid transmission outages, which mean inconveniences and increased cost for repairs. We make ongoing efforts to stay abreast of issues, which may mean additional training and investment of time. We need to work together."
Former state senator Brian Rude, now Dairyland Power of La Crosse director of external relations, got back to his Norwegian roots by singing (in Norwegian) a song with The Jim Gorman Trio during lunch. Before he spoke when the meeting was in session, he carried on the theme by telling an Ole and Lena joke. He said he observed Ole planting a shrub at his own place, one at Rude's place next door and one at the third house in a row. When Rude asked Ole why, he stated that the instructions said to plant them ‘three yards apart’.
All kidding aside, Rude stated that Dairyland Power serves nearly 600,000 people -- more than Madison Gas and Electric. Rude said there is a marketplace for renewable energy -- from water, wind, landfill gases, crops and crop residues. He spoke about energy companies' reliance on railways for transport and of the railways' ever-increasing rates. "They tell us what they'll charge," Rude said. "They control our destiny." He said U.S. Senator Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) is a national champion for rail reform, mainly due to the number of people who have contacted him.
During the meeting each attendee was given a free compact fluorescent bulb, which brought up the question of what to do if one of these gets broken. An attendee questioned whether the amount of mercury in one of these bulbs is cause for concern. The response was that each bulb contains a tiny amount of mercury, a fraction of the amount in an amalgam tooth filling. If a compact fluorescent bulb gets broken, one should simply sweep it up and throw it out. It was stated that vacuuming it would stir up more dust.
A few moments were taken during the meeting to present awards to REC for its contributions to Wisconsin Energy Cooperative News magazine. REC member services staff member Ed Lund accepted the awards from Wisconsin Electric Cooperative Association (WECA) manager Share Brandt in the human interest and photography categories and an N.F. Leifer journalism award for having the best center sections of all participating cooperatives. Dean Young of Viola was acknowledged for contributing some stories to the magazine.
Also recognized during the meeting were three area high school students who attended last summer's Youth Congress in River Falls. They were: Ithaca High School senior Amanda Fowell, daughter of Martin and Esther Fowell; Richland Center High School senior Blake Horter, son of Dawn Horter and Mike Horter; and Ithaca High School junior Eric Osborne, son of Titus and Lori Osborne.
Well over 100 members were present for the meeting and to partake in the lunch served by the Five Points Lutheran Church women.
Reprinted with permission of the Richland Observer.