Annual Meeting Recap — May 2019

The Northern Lights 84th annual meeting on May 11 consisted of entertainment, refreshments, giveaways and the business meeting. Check out the pictures on pages 4 and 5 of this Ruralite issue. Thanks to all the members who made the effort to attend. We missed those of you not able to be there. Let me highlight what was discussed at the meeting.

NLI board directors in Districts 1, 5 and 7 were up for election this year. Running unopposed were Mike

Dolan, District 1; Kennon McClintock, District 5; and Jim Woodward, District 7. Congratulations to Mike,

Kennon and Jim, who were reelected!

You will find a summary of your cooperative’s 2018 financial statements on pages 28 and 29. NLI continues to be in a healthy financial position. Member ownership in the cooperative grew by approximately $2,935,000 in 2018. In addition, in December 2018, $1.4 million was retired as capital credits for the remainder of 1988, all of 1989 and a portion of 1990.

We are eight years into our long-term power supply contract with the Bonneville Power Administration. Northern Lights buys 90% of its power from BPA. We generate the other 10% at our Lake Creek Hydroelectric Dam in Troy, Montana. In 2018, the dam produced 22 million kilowatt-hours of energy. The dam provides our lowest cost of power, which helps to keep your rates low.

Northern Lights started a Solar for Schools program that allows children from elementary through high school age to visit our Community Solar Project at our Sagle headquarters. Students explore our community solar array, build solar cars to race and learn how solar power is generated.

Maintaining the cooperative’s facilities is a high priority for the NLI Board of Directors. In 2018, we replaced 270 poles, 54,000 feet of old underground cable and trimmed 200 miles of tree line.

As we enter June, I hope you are enjoying the warmer weather, have your gardens planted and are looking forward to a great summer. To all the dads out there, Happy Father’s Day!

Annie Terracciano
General Manager