Co-Op News
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Members of the Okanogan County Electric Cooperative board have decided to reduce their numbers from nine to seven, if the co-op membership approves the change. The board unanimously favored the idea of moving to a smaller number of directors during discussion at their most recent meeting on Jan. 24. Board president Bud Hover, who has served for 12 years on the board, and Dick Garing, a board member for six years, said they don’t plan to seek re-election to the co-op board this year. Their decision to step down means the transition to a seven-member board can be achieved by simply not filling those vacant seats. The idea of shrinking the board was introduced last month by co-op General Manager David Gottula. He said a smaller board would mean reduced costs to the co-op in terms of training for board members. “It takes a lot of time and effort to bring new board members up to speed,” said Gottula. A smaller board may also be a more efficient decision-making body, he said. “Seven seems to be a number that other co-ops are moving toward,” Gottula said. The membership of the co-op will be mailed a ballot on March 22 that will allow them to vote on changing co-op by-laws to reduce the board size to seven. The ballot will also include candidates for the one seat that is up for election. That seat is currently held by David Gens, who was appointed to the position in November after Frank Kline resigned. Gens is seeking election to the position, and a nominating committee appointed by the co-op is in the process of recruiting other candidates interested in running for the seat. Co-op members will be able to mail in their ballots or bring them to the annual meeting on April 16 at the Barn in Winthrop. If the co-op members approve the change in the board’s size, the board terms will be reorganized for future elections. One of the three open board positions in 2013 will be shortened to a two-year term for that election cycle. This position will subsequently revert to a normal three-year term. The final board arrangement is for three district positions and four “at-large” positions. Once every three years, three members would be up for election and the other years, two members would be up for election. If the change in the board size is not approved by members, directors will set a member meeting date for a special election, Gottula said. Ann McCreary. "Co-op board may have fewer members." Methow Valley News February 1, 2012 >>LINK |
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After 12 years on the board of directors of the Okanogan County Electric Cooperative, board president Bud Hover has announced he’ll step down when his term ends in April. Looking back over his years as a director the co-op, Hover said the electric company and the industry as a whole have undergone significant – and sometimes painful – changes. “When I came on the board, the majority of members had been there for 20 years or more,” Hover said in an interview this week. “For a long time I was not only the least-senior, but I was the youngest.” Also retiring from the board this spring is Dick Garing, who has been a director for six years. The remaining members have all joined the board since 2010. “This will be a completely new board, with members not having more than two years of experience,” Hover said. “Other than Ron Perrow and Ardis Bynum, who are long-time valley residents, many are relatively new residents.” Hover said he is leaving the co-op board because of increasing responsibilities as an Okanogan County commissioner. The transitions undergone by the co-op in the past couple of years have not always been smooth and Hover, as board president, sometimes expressed frustration during board meetings about the conflicts that emerged between the newer and older board members. “There’s been a lot of turmoil the last three years,” Hover said. Now, however, he feels comfortable leaving the co-op in the hands of the current board. “I’m very impressed with the overall knowledge and background of the board members we have on there now,” Hover said. “It does take an awfully long time to learn about the (electric) business. I’m amazed at how quickly they’ve taken it up.” Changes in the economy, in the electric industry, and in the Methow Valley community have all forced transitions in the co-op and the way it does business, Hover said. Until 2010, the co-op board conducted its business in closed-door sessions. The board, which included several irrigators, had remained largely unchanged for 20 years and there hadn’t been a rate increase in a decade. Co-op customers generally took little interest in co-op business. “We were working under 10-year contracts (to buy power) with BPA (Bonneville Power Authority) that were relatively stable,” Hover said. With a strong economy, new construction was booming in the Methow Valley and the co-op benefited financially from providing electric service to all the new homes being built. Then two things happened that changed the outlook for the co-op, Hover said. “We knew our 10-year contracts with BPA were ending,” he said. “The other thing we didn’t anticipate was the drop in construction. In 2009 our budget was built around a certain expectation of revenue from aid to construction. We were facing a huge shortfall as a result of the downturn in construction.” Faced with that budget shortfall and the prospect of increased costs of purchasing power from BPA, the co-op board had to consider a rate increase for the first time in a decade. It commissioned a cost-of-service analysis, and came up with a new rate structure that included a demand charge for residential customers. “Because we had new meters and could measure demand, it was a way of covering fixed costs,” Hover said. Hover said he argued against adopting the new rate structure that included the demand charge and higher rates. “I thought we should work it in gradually, rather than hit people in the face with it,” Hover said. “I said you’re pushing things too far, too fast, and there’s going to be a backlash. If we had just raised the rates, a lot of people would have been upset. The combination of the rate increase and the change in rate structure … people couldn’t absorb that.” Initially his argument prevailed, but at a meeting that Hover was unable to attend, the co-op board decided to approve the new rates. When customers saw their electric bills increase as much as 35 percent, the predicted backlash materialized and a grassroots organization called Members for a Democratic Co-op (MDC) formed. MDC successfully ran a slate of three candidates for the co-op board in 2010, unseating three long-term board members at the co-op’s annual meeting. The new members – Paul Taylor, Pat Leigh and Ron Perrow – pushed for open board meetings, more communication with the co-op’s members, and reconsideration of the rate structure, among other changes. Hover said he wasn’t surprised that co-op members objected to the change in rates. “What surprised me is they actually organized to become a political force among the membership.” In the past, the co-op had to recruit people to run for a vacant seat on the board. Suddenly, there was intense interest and controversy surrounding the board elections. Last April three more new members were elected to the board – Dale Sekijima, Kent Hitch and Ardis Bynum. A seventh new board member, David Gens, was appointed last fall when board member Frank Kline resigned. The co-op board has endorsed a proposal to reduce the board size from nine to seven (see below), which means that the seats held by Hover and Garing would not be filled. The membership will be asked to vote on the proposal on a ballot to be mailed in March. The co-op has also seen recent changes in its management, with the resignation last March of Ray Ellis, who had been general manager for five years and a co-op employee for 25 years. When Ellis announced his resignation last year, Hover said Ellis left partly because he didn’t feel he had the confidence of the new board members. “The way this board functions is quite a bit different than in the past. This board is much more engaged … with the management aspect.” Hover said. A new general manager, David Gottula, was hired last October, and Hover said he is confident that the co-op is in good hands. “I think David Gottula is an outstanding manager.” Hover said the co-op is a utility with unique characteristics. “Over 40 percent of our members are seasonal residents from outside the area. We have absolutely no industrial load that can help defray costs to residential customers. We don’t have a lot of members per mile (of electrical line).” As “the last irrigator” on the board, Hover said his departure will leave that constituency unrepresented for the first time in decades. But as he prepares to depart, Hover said he feels confident that the co-op is in good hands despite the sometimes-difficult transitions of recent years. “I feel comfortable with the people we have on the board as far as their ability to run a business, and feel comfortable with the manager, and have always felt confident in the employees,” Hover said. “Sometimes it’s good to get change. Change is not always bad.” Ann McCreary. "Hover steps down from co-op board." Methow Valley News February 1, 2012 >>LINK |
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The Okanogan County Electric Cooperative has found a way to reduce the load on the overburdened line that carries power to Mazama, for less money than estimated in previous plans. Currently, electrical service to the Wolf Creek area is carried on the same line that feeds Mazama. A solution proposed last year carried a $270,000 price tag and called for building a new overhead power line along Wolf Creek Road to move that area off the Mazama feeder line. General Manager David Gottula told the co-op board last week that he is proposing another plan that will cut costs to $170,000 and eliminate the need to construct a new overhead line. Gottula, an electrical engineer, said a line will be run underground north along Highway 20 for about one-quarter mile at the north end of town, connecting it to the line serving Wolf Creek. “Because this is a main entrance into town, we decided to put this underground,” Gottula said. The project will also rework a lot of the wiring in Wolf Creek. “We need to add another conductor in order to balance out the loads, Gottula said. “Because this will also reduce losses on the system, we are applying to Bonneville Power Authority for energy conservation funds to help fund this project.” Moving Wolf Creek off the Mazama line means that the voltage on the Mazama circuit should be adequate for five to 10 years, depending on growth in the area, Gottula said. Gottula said he hopes to have the new underground line installed by Memorial Day to avoid working along Highway 20 during the busy tourist season. A study commissioned by the co-op in 2010 to examine a long-term solution to the overloaded Mazama line proposed installing a larger wire on poles extending above the existing line that stretches 13.7 miles from Winthrop to Mazama, and adding additional transformers, for a cost of almost $8 million. Ann McCreary. "Co-op has cheaper Mazama fix." Methow Valley News February 1, 2012 >>LINK |
The purpose of re-districting was to even out the number of members in each district. The new boundaries have accomplished this, to see which district you are in follow the link below for the map & description. |
November 17th at the Barn in Winthrop new OCEC General Manager David Gottula presented OCEC's plan for our rate design process. Attached below is a copy of the presentation, including the steps to rate design, and a timeline. |
In November of 2010 the Bonneville Power Administration announced a rate increase of about 8.5 percent to its customers for the 2012/2013 fiscal years which begin October 1st of 2011. Continued>>
In a long-anticipated early-August ruling on the 2008/2010 Federal Columbia River Power System Biological Opinion, U.S. District Judge James Redden ruled still not good enough. The BiOp—a plan to protect endangered salmon in the Columbia River Basin—has been tied up in court for more than a decade. Continued>> |
