Arrowhead Electric Cooperative Rate Hike Out of Line

It is time the member/owners of the Arrowhead Electric Cooperative ask for some accountability. The last straw for me was in a story in the January 26, 2007 Cook County News Herald where Jeanne Muntean was quoted as saying the new building for the Cooperative offices will be funded by the sale of the Direct TV business. "We will not raise rates."

In case nobody noticed, the fixed monthly charge on your electric bill just jumped from $24.00 to $28.00 per month. This charge was $20.00 per month for years and then in January of 2003 it jumped to $21.00 per month. In June of 2005 it was raised again to $24.00 per month. Now a year and a half later it is raised again to $28.00 per month. this is almost a 17 percent hike from $24.00. This is way above the inflation rate for the last year and a half and is an operations charge and not an energy charge. With the great amount of new construction that has occurred in Cook County over the last several years I think this fixed charge could have been held steady or even declined. The meters per mile of line surely has gone up over the last five years and the cost per individual meter should have gone down with careful management.

A person has no recourse but to pay this monthly fixed charge which is just for the privilege of being hooked up to the grid. The Cooperative is a monopoly and there is no other choice. This hits people of fixed income especially hard and you can conserve and freeze in the dark buy you still have to pay this fixed charge.

It is time to hold the management's feet to the fire. The board of directors seems to have become a rubber stamp to the staff and management and asks for no accountability. Those of us who struggle to keep our costs within our means are not represented. A few years ago there was a blood letting at the Cooperative and several people got laid off. I think they have hired them all back with extras.

I know the Cooperative has many good and dedicated employees who perform their job well and I don't want to cast anyone in a bad light but the jobs at the Cooperative are very good jobs by most standards with excellent pay and benefits. A little belt tightening once in a while is necessary to keep business competitive. Oh, that's right, the coop is a monopoly and has no competition.

The Arrowhead Electric tried LP gas sales some years ago and found it wasn't such a good deal with competition and all. They got out of the Direct TV sales and told us they were not making any money on that venture. Did anybody get laid off after they left the Direct TV business? I think not. Now they tell us the sale of the Direct TV business is to pay for the new office complex and they will not raise rates.

I heard an unsubstantiated fact that the Cooperative speculated in putting service to the Tom Lake area at much expense to us owner/members. Who benefits from that but the developers. As an owner/member I see no benefit in it for me. It should have been part of the development costs for the land owners and the Cooperative should not be speculating in real estate developments.

The news letter that comes with my monthly bill is waste paper. Any important information that needs to be passed on to us owner/members could be put in the local papers at much less expense than the newsletter and most people probably throw it away without reading it anyway. It used to give us a little financial information and insight on the operation of the Cooperative. It is a waste of time and money. I find it of no value to me as a member and most of what I see in there is trivia. The unhealthy high energy recipes are trivia too. Perhaps some information on eating healthy would be more worthwhile. But is this part of the mission of Arrowhead Electric Cooperative?

Has the board and the staff read the mission statement lately?
MISSION STATEMENT:
Through the power of human connections, we will provide quality utility services in a
reliable, cost-effective, and environmentally safe manner.

What is the real purpose of the proposed 18 megawatt power plant they want to construct near Colvill? Is this a peaking generator or a back-up generator? I think we have a connection to the Taconite Harbor Energy Center so we are not really that far from a reliable energy source. Who is paying for this? What will the fuel source be? Why are they proposing to build in that location?

Let us rattle the elected board of directors to place us, the member/owners a little higher on their priority list. Cut the fat, hold the line on expenses and hold the line on expensive new building projects unless they are truly necessary and fall under the blanket of the mission statement, or get a new mission statement.

Name withheld so I can keep my electricity.