An attitude of gratitude. It’s a phrase we hear often, but a phrase that’s oft forgotten. And it’s a phrase worth remembering when it comes to the electric grid.

Amid the busyness and pace of everyday life, we don’t think about the blessings and benefits of electricity. Thankfully, apart from severe storms, we typically don’t have to worry if the lights will turn on when we flip the switch.

The grid is an amazing and complex network of power generation plants, overhead wires, underground cables, substations, poles, transformers, meters, and other technology that allow us to safely keep our homes bright, comfortable, and warm – especially when it gets cold outside.

“The grid” is made up of nearly 4,000 diverse private, not-for-profit, and public organizations that transmit electrons over power lines and employ people that power our communities, our business and industry, and our country.

Serving the countryside

Electric Cooperatives are a big part, and the not-for-profit part, of this picture. There are more than 900 distribution co-ops like Beltrami Electric across the United States. And every co-op is homegrown and locally owned.

We are governed by those we serve. And we serve resilient pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstrap, communities. We provide electricity to areas where people and power poles are separated by vast tracts of timber, row-cropped fields, pastureland, or one of our 10,000 walleye-filled lakes.

The expanse is a big reason we live here. The expense is THE reason that for-profit electric companies don’t operate outside the confines of densely populated areas, (i.e., the city limits). Electric co-ops typically serve rural areas where we grow more trees, soybeans, and animals than people.

Tipping the cap to our past

Electric co-ops were organized by our forefathers and mothers. We’re set up to operate “at cost.” Any margin that is earned either goes back to our lenders to meet our loan obligations – or it goes back to members in the form of capital credits.

In other words – if you’re a member of the co-op, you receive cash back through capital credits and your share of the margin over time. In the process, you’re also making an investment in your local co-op. Your monthly payment for electric service supports building, operating, and maintaining a safe and reliable electric distribution system for the communities and members we serve.

While capital credits grow and are paid back over time, co-op costs are spread over time and comprise the basis for electric rates. It’s a business model that spans generations – because most of our equipment like poles, wires and transformers lasts for generations. Thus, the costs – and the benefits – are spread and shared across generations of members.

Holding the line on rates

Thankfully, due to hard work, diligence, and the wise use of member resources, Beltrami Electric hasn’t had a rate increase in six years. It’s especially notable given supply chain and inflationary challenges over the course of the past few years.

To do it while maintaining some of the best electric reliability and safety numbers in the state is even more of an accomplishment. That’s news worth sharing – and acknowledging – today, tomorrow, and always.