Norris Electric Cooperative celebrated its 75th annual meeting of members, Saturday, February 9, at Newton Community High School. The members, who filled the gym floor seating, heard reports on the new power contract with Southern Illinois Power Cooperative (SIPC), an explanation of future rate designs and a yearly financial update. In addition, members were treated to a special video presentation detailing the history of the cooperative, and a presentation by David Reis, 108th District State Representative.
Board President Larry Seals of Mt. Carmel informed members that this year the cooperative began buying power from SIPC, the generation and transmission cooperative located in Marion.
“The board recognized that the market was beginning to fluctuate greatly and were concerned eventually we would hit the market at the wrong time,” said Seals. “Through our new contract with Southern Illinois Power, members will not see dramatic increases as time goes on and should not see any large fluctuations.”
Cooperative Manager Keith McKinney pointed out that even though the cooperative’s rates had risen, Norris Electric remains one of the lowest cost providers in the state.
Said McKinney, “Although we struggle with costs of new legislation as well as rising costs for material and labor, we are still your cooperative and do not have to charge more just to pay shareholders.”
McKinney also updated members on some of the projects ongoing at the cooperative, such as new line construction and transformer replacements, as well as the addition of a new portable transformer.
“This year we implemented a new Outage Management System,” said McKinney. “Our members can now send an outage by texting on their cell phone and get a response back when service has been restored.”
Dean Dieterich, Board Treasurer, reported that the cooperative was in strong financial condition.
At the meeting, Representative David Reis presented Norris Electric with House Resolution 0042, congratulating Norris Electric on 75 years of dedicated service to its members.
During the meeting the results of the board of director’s election were announced. Frank Draper of Hutsonville, Joe Helmink of Teutopolis, Dave Sheppard of Newton and Scott Littlejohn of Casey were re-elected to three-year terms.
Norris Electric Cooperative is a member of Touchstone Energy — an alliance of more than 680 local, consumer-owned electric utilities around the country. Norris Electric is committed to providing superior service based on four core principles: integrity, accountability, innovation and commitment to community. The co-op serves more than 19,291 members over 4,070 miles of line in parts of Clark, Crawford, Cumberland, Effingham, Jasper, Lawrence, Richland and Wabash counties. For more information visit www.norriselectric.com.