It was a display of the co-op difference as EnerStar Electric Cooperative members gathered for the annual meeting on June 3 at Crestwood School in Paris. During the meeting, the co-op board and management shared a few brief business updates on financials, projects and general state of affairs. But it’s not all business, as the annual meeting includes a free meal and the opportunity to meet with those who help run the cooperative and win some great prizes.

Financial update

Board Secretary-Treasurer Greg Robinson provided an update on the co-op’s financials, stating that the co-op is in a strong financial condition with the total revenue from 2022 adding up to $13.3 million and expenses totaling $12.5 million. As a not-for-profit electric cooperative, any excess revenue over costs is allocated to individual members based on patronage and will eventually be returned to members in the form of capital credits.

“For every dollar we collect, about 55 cents goes toward the cost of power,” he said. “Even with inflation, EnerStar’s expenses have remained relatively stable over the last couple of years.”

Robinson explained that while the price of goods and services continues to increase, the co-op’s controllable costs have remained steady for five years. The board has set a goal to reduce debt while keeping rates stable.

“We consider this an important part of our efforts to preserve rate stability going into the future,” Robinson said. “We continue to return capital credits on an annual basis. We’ve held the final expenses that we can control, and we’re maintaining a reasonable amount of debt. We strive to be good stewards of the cooperative’s resources.”

CEO update

In his fireside-type chat with the co-op’s membership, CEO Dave Clinton asked the membership, “What makes EnerStar have a strong foundation? What creates a bright future?”

To have a strong foundation, Clinton emphasized the importance of reducing debt, which the co-op has been working on diligently while keeping rates as low as possible. Over the last 10 years, rates have only gone up less than 1%, which is below the rate of inflation. Simultaneously, EnerStar Electric has been able to reduce its debt by $860,000 since 2018.

“Considering we serve one of the costliest areas in Illinois, to have been able to keep our costs stable shows we are holding the line on controllable costs. We believe that’s part of our strong foundation going forward,” Clinton explained. EnerStar is one of the most rural cooperatives in Illinois, with just 3.5 members per mile of line. Comparably, an investor-owned utility may have 40+ consumers sharing that same per-mile cost.

Clinton also mentioned that a major part of the co-op’s strong foundation includes efforts to improve the reliability of the distribution system and the 250 years of combined experience of EnerStar Electric employees.

“We believe that EnerStar is well-positioned to have a bright future,” he concluded, adding that one goal for the future is to lay out ways for members to have greater control over their own energy costs.

Board election results

During the meeting, Cooperative Counsel Rob Anderson of Anderson Law Offices announced the results of Director Elections as follows:

• District A-1, Jeff Zimmerman, with 181 votes, was reelected without opposition.
• District C-9, Danny Gard, with 166 votes, was reelected without opposition.
• District B-5, Thad Martin, with 130 votes, was reelected in a contested election, with Mike Clark having 123 votes.

The co-op wishes to extend a special thanks to Tom Phillips, Pat Macke and Ray Young, all of whom are co-op members, for serving as election judges again this year.

Hope to see you next year!

With the return of the annual meeting to a Saturday morning and our popular pancakes, members enjoyed a full breakfast prior to the meeting, catered by Front Street Market in Hume, along with a $25 thank-you bill credit. Of course, as always, many great door prizes were awarded. We appreciate all who came this year and the wonderful compliments. We hope to see you again next year! And if you didn’t happen to make it, we hope to see you next year!