Energy Transition in Rural America (Spring 2022) - Minnesota Valley Electric Cooperative
By Jam Angulo Paniagua, Sarah LaVallie, and Mark Teklinski
On March 1st, our Energy Transition in Rural America class visited Minnesota Valley Electric Cooperative (MVEC) in Jordan, MN. Located in one of the state’s fastest-growing areas, the co-op provides electricity to 44,250+ members in nine counties in southern Minnesota, spanning 968 square miles. First founded in 1937 by local farmers determined to bring access to electricity to their rural communities for the first time, MVEC has continued to grow by expanding the variety of programs they offer, improving safety standards, and increasing the reliability of their service. The latter has led to a 45% growth since 2000.
On our visit, we were welcomed by MVEC's CEO Ryan Hentges and staff from the co-op's Human Resources, Engineering and Operations, and Financial departments. We began by having a conversation on the cooperative model and MVEC's strategic plan. Like most other co-ops, MVEC strives to adhere to the seven key cooperative principles: voluntary and open membership, democratic member control, members’ economic participation, autonomy and independence, education, training, and information, cooperation among cooperatives, and concern for community. MVEC's strategy recognizes that reliability and financial strength can be achieved only by having a positive organizational culture and building strong member relationships. Both of these elements are at the heart of this cooperative and are reflected in their strategic goals.
A culture of safety underpins MVEC's strategy. MVEC's staff aims for a strong culture of safety with a goal of zero incidents. This involves being proactive by recognizing the causes of accidents, addressing mistakes that could have led to an accident, and promoting the reporting of near misses. The team has translated this approach to at-home accidents, which was especially important during the pandemic. MVEC received positive performance ratings in the Rural Electric Safety Achievement program, and in 2021 had an incident rate of 2.19, the lowest since 2016. Besides safety, the cooperative also promotes leadership and healthy practices in its workforce.
MVEC creates member experiences and is concerned about the community. We discussed how the cooperative has successfully fostered relationships with its members through effective interaction and communication. They proactively use Facebook and their monthly newsletter The Electric Eye to stay in touch with their members and communicate news and events. Their website includes a live outage map to keep members up to date. MVEC staff even goes a step further by committing to returning all calls in less than 24 hours. Although the co-op does not own their own generation assets, MVEC purchases energy from Great River Energy, Basin Electric Power Cooperative, and Alliant Energy. Diversification of their power supply has uniquely allowed them to offer their members a more stable cost of electricity despite planned coal plants shutdowns, as each of their power suppliers is going through this transition at different times. Through the co-op’s efforts to reduce expenses and keep their financial strength steady and despite worldwide fluctuations in energy prices, MVEC has not had a legacy general service rate increase since 2016.
Their dedication to member experiences is also reflected in the variety of programs they offer. In its 1941 statement, MVEC declared that "enriching the life of the community" was at the core of its purpose. We discussed how that is still a critical part of the co-op during our visit. MVEC offers time-of-use rates for Electric Vehicle charging, funding for efficient appliances with its Conservation Improvement Program, and the opportunity to purchase Renewable Energy Credits with its Green Choice program. Through MVEC’s voluntary Energy Wise load management programs, energy savings are passed on to residential members.
MVEC also offers a variety of community-based programs. In Operation Round-Up, customers who participate agree to round up their electricity bill and the money is then invested in local communities' initiatives and needs. In 2020 Operation Roundup raised a total of 47,000 for local food donations, and since 1995 has raised over $2 million. The Gift of Electricity program, introduced in 2020, allows for donations from friends and family to apply credit to an MVEC member’s account. Additionally, MVEC has demonstrated a commitment to investing in the next generation. Each year, the co-op offers fifteen $1,000 scholarships for graduating high school students, and this year they’ve introduced new scholarships for students hoping to join the field of electrical line work. MVEC also annually funds an all-expenses-paid Youth Tour trip to Washington D.C for a high school student representative whose parent is a co-op member.
The cooperative works tirelessly to reduce the number and duration of outages. We discussed how building new power lines and trimming trees are necessary tasks to minimize the risks or effects of outages in the region that MVEC serves. The co-op emphasizes that outages should not be reduced at the expense of safety. MVEC makes long-term investments to improve their system reliability. This year the co-op will invest $15.3 million through their 2022 Construction Work Plan, rebuilding electrical lines, completing new construction, and making equipment upgrades.
After our discussion, Joe Jutz, a lineman at MVEC, talked us through the work line crews perform to achieve MVEC's principles: safety and reliability. He showed us the equipment they use to keep themselves safe, and the electrical protections that mitigate the effects of line failures. We discussed how these failures can have diverse and unexpected causes: from a tree falling to a curious squirrel. The work and knowledge of line crews are especially commendable considering the state's changing and sometimes extreme weather. MVEC has worked on making their equipment and power lines appropriate to the area characteristics.
