What if Midwest Electric was not a cooperative?

There would be a number of differences if we were not a cooperative. For example:

• You would not have “one member, one vote.” This means you would not have an eight-member board made up of consumers that is responsible for approving electric rates and policies that govern the cooperative, as well as setting the strategic direction of the cooperative.
• You would not receive an allocation of your share of the co-op’s profits, or margins, and you certainly would not receive your share of the $1.6 million in patronage capital that was paid back this past November.
• I expect, also, that you would not have the Midwest Electric Community Connection Fund board, which is responsible for awarding some $50,000 per year in round-up funds to local charities.
• You also would not have the Midwest Electric Revolving Loan Fund, which has provided nearly $3.5 million in low-interest loans to area small businesses to help keep and create jobs in west-central Ohio.
• Because of state law, we would not be able to own our power generation, which we do today through our ownership share of Buckeye Power. Instead, all of you — and us — would have to buy electricity from the market. Like most markets, electric prices rise and fall for a variety of reasons. Right now, market prices are rising quickly due to higher demand and shorter supplies. But Ohio co-op members have not been affected by the rising market prices, because we own all our power generation needs.

Allow me to take a moment or two to talk about the current state of the industry. We talk a lot about how important Buckeye Power is to you, our members.

Almost all the electricity you use these days is made by burning coal. And most of that generation comes from dispatchable baseload plants like the Cardinal Power Plant. And, importantly, today and for the near future, Buckeye Power has more generation capacity than it needs to serve its members.

That’s significant at a time when we are hearing news reports about all the data centers locating in the region and the likelihood that those new electric loads will result in higher electricity prices — for those who have to buy their power from the market. This is not to suggest that the electric rates you will be paying in the future will not be going up — they will be. But we can take some comfort in knowing that Buckeye Power owns most of the generation that we will need for the near future. So our rate increases should be considerably less than what the other electric utilities in Ohio are paying.

We can also take comfort in the fact that we do operate as a cooperative and because of that, you have a board of directors and a group of employees who are focused on protecting your interests as a member-owner and committed to keeping your power as reliable and affordable as it can be.

And, we are proud of the fact that, as a cooperative, we continue to maintain very competitive electric rates, despite the fact that the cost to us is greater to serve rural areas with fewer meters per mile.

As we enter our 90th year of business, I am grateful that we have the cooperative business model, which serves us well at Midwest Electric. And I thank you for being a member.