2025 was a challenging yet rewarding year for your cooperative, and I am so proud of our employees for what they accomplished. On June 21, nearly 90% of our members were without power as a derecho of major proportions ripped through our service area. We called on our employees and those from other cooperatives to answer the call…and they did. It was through their tremendous and heroic efforts that we were able to restore power to all members within five days. We are used to the occasional storm, but this was atypical. State estimates indicated 9 million trees were lost in our area, not to mention the devastating damage to homes, businesses and institutions. I’d like to once again thank our employees for their work as well as our members for their outpouring of support and patience as we worked to restore power.
Storms aside, your cooperative continued to grow in 2025 with line crews constructing nearly 300 new services and performing more than 75 service improvements for our members. We finished the year financially sound with sufficient margins to meet all of our financial obligations and loan covenants. We completed the first year of our four-year construction work plan, including major projects along Roosevelt Road, Nature Road and a portion of Beltrami County Road 22. Most importantly, we completed all of this work safely.
Setting our course
Your board and employees undertook an intensive strategic planning process this fall and at its December meeting your board approved a new three-year strategic plan focused on four core areas:
We will focus on these core areas over the next three years as we continue to serve our members to the best of our ability.
Our vision and mission remain unchanged:
OUR VISION:
That the members of Beltrami Electric Cooperative realize the benefits of their membership as we strive to be their trusted energy partner.
OUR MISSION:
To provide excellent value to our members through the safe delivery of reliable electric service, excellent member service and innovative energy solutions at fair and reasonable prices.
2026 Budget and Rate Outlook
Your board of directors will set the 2026 budget in January. The budget will include a rate change in April. Minnkota Power Cooperative is our wholesale power supplier and will increase rates by 4.1% in April. Wholesale power accounts for roughly 70 percent of our costs, so changes in wholesale rates have a significant impact on our operation. The remaining 30 percent of our costs are internal. Some of these are controllable, some are not. Your board of directors and employees have done an excellent job of keeping controllable costs within budget, yet prices continue to increase for materials, equipment, insurance, labor, and other items essential to operating your cooperative. Detailed information on the rate change will be included in next month’s newsletter.