Lake Region Electric Cooperative holds its 85th annual meeting

CEO Tim Thompson delivers his address during the LREC 85th Annual Meeting on June 2, 2022 in Fergus Falls.

FERGUS FALLS (KDLM) – Lake Region Electric Cooperative (LREC) held its 85th annual meeting last Thursday, June 2.

Approximately 950 members attended the event in-person, with an additional 278 watching the event online via livestream.

“By expanding our annual meeting model to include three in-person location options, one in Fergus Falls, one in Frazee, and one in Parkers Prairie, we were able to connect with more of our members at places closer to their homes and businesses,” said LREC CEO Tim Thompson.

Meeting topics included LREC’s Board Chair Tom Jennen speaking about being grateful for his opportunity to serve on a board elected by LREC members, and how the cooperative model allows LREC to locally make decisions on matters that are extremely important to the members and their communities. Jennen recognized the retirement of directors Joyce Valley and Robert Shaw, both of whom served the cooperative for 15 years and expressed their appreciation for the LREC employees.

LREC CEO Tim Thompson reported on the successful year the cooperative had in 2021, including positive member feedback, rate stability, the prioritization of reliability shown by recent upgrades made by LREC and Great River Energy to transmission lines and substations, increasing equity reflecting the financial strength of the co-op, $1,838,490 of capital credits paid to members in 2021, making it nine consecutive years of record capital credit retirements paid to members, and the growth of LREC’s natural gas subsidiary, Lake Region Energy Services (LRES).

Thompson also addressed the massive Memorial Day storm that caused almost 10,000 members to be out of power and reported that all services were back on within 72 hours.

LREC also welcomed two new directors, Gary Olson and Charlie Blixt. Olson was elected by acclamation in District 9 and Blixt was elected in a two-member race in District 6. Incumbent director Mike Brasel of District 3 was elected by acclamation.