As I am writing this, the stock market is making news with large declines and subsequent attempts to rally. Gas prices are declining once again and driving (no pun intended!) some economic activity. It made me stop and think about the impact Cherryland Electric Cooperative has on the local and regional economy.
So, I had our topnotch accounting staff go back to the start of the last recession to help me develop the numbers for this story on the consistent economic impact that your cooperative has had since 2008.
The first logical number is capital credits returned to our members. As you know, capital credits are each member’s share of our margins or profits in a given year. We use this zero interest loan from our owners to do such things as fund plant improvements, buy trucks and reduce our interest expense on long-term borrowings.
Your board of directors recently approved a $2.6 million dollar retirement for 2015. Current members will see a bill credit in October. Since 2008, your cooperative has returned almost $16 million. This is $16 million directly into the pockets of past and present members that flows directly into our regional economy.
Another big economic stimulus provided by an electric cooperative like Cherryland lies in such things as the in-house system improvements, equipment purchases and outside construction contracts necessary to upgrade our distribution facilities each year. These are physical assets and additions necessary to keep the delivery of electricity to your home reliable.
Since 2008, we have invested more than $18 million dollars to maintain and improve the network of poles and wires throughout the 1400 square miles of our service territory. This is money that will roll over multiple times in our regional economy.
In the six counties served by Cherryland, new and expanding business is vital to growing our economy. Your cooperative assists in this area through a zero interest revolving loan fund.
Setup by multiple USDA grants over the last several years, this loan fund helps local entrepreneurs purchase equipment and add to present facilities. For each $20,000 borrowed, the borrower must show the addition or retention of one full time position. The Cherryland board has approved $1.6 million in zero interest loans since 2008.
Over 80 jobs have been created or saved with the use of these loan funds. Obviously, numbers will vary from family to family. For arguments sake, let’s say that each job pumps a mere $2,000 per month into the local economy. Over the course of one year, these 80 jobs are responsible for $1.9 million. Since 2008, this comes to an economic impact of more than $13 million dollars.
Even the impact of our members’ pocket change is being felt across our service territory. Through Cherryland Cares, members round up their monthly bill to the nearest dollar. These contributions average just $6 per year per participating member. Since 2008, this pocket change has totaled $234,000 in donations to area non-profits.
With only two rates increases since 2008 and ZERO since 2011, we feel like we are doing what we can to provide rates that more than beat the cost of inflation. I believe that every year we don’t have a rate increase we avoid a $1 million hit to the local economy.
When I add up this little snapshot of just a few of the ways Cherryland impacts the economy, I get an almost $56 million dollar infusion into our region since 2008.
So, while the bulls and bears of Wall Street come and go and the price at the pump goes up and down, your local electric cooperative continues to be a consistent engine that helps drive a positive economy locally and regionally.
Congratulations on your good work. Having taking some bad losses in the recent market downturn, living on a fixed income – this good news is certainly welcome. Thanks and with good wishes for your continued good health , as well as the Co-OP.
This article is good news, but not nearly as good as it sounds. Most of the money “stimulating” our economy came from our pockets. It seems odd to me for CEC to brag about stimulating the economy when they return money to our pockets that previously came from our pockets. Except for the USDA grant, all the money sited here came from the local economy through our bills. Even though the $56 M “infusion” is mostly a shell-game, not a true stimulus, it’s encouraging that CEC is keeping our electricity cheep and reliable, winning grants, creating jobs, and contributing to charity.
Keep up the good work, but please keep your propaganda honest.
Hi Tony,
Over the weekend, the residents of Partridge Run subdivision off of M72 received a letter from Jim Carpenter indicating that he had heard from several of the 30+ residents about clearing up potential dead ash trees etc. During outages ,over the last couple years , I have made requests to line crews about tree trimming etc in addditon to requesting it via FB and through your 800 nbr during outage updates . It has fallen on deaf ears until several of us have complained. I couldn’t tell you the last time my right-of-way has been cleared. We had an outage a few weeks back, and the lineman who was on my property asserted to me that “yea, your overdue for some triming” and when I asked what to do he said to contact Mr Carpenter. Apparently enough folks complained, which is what it usually takes to get some attention.
I realize this is an endless job, throughout the service area.But as one of the line guys said “Its not been a priority as CEC is always looking for the lowest bidder’ . Whether true or not, I hope that proactive trimming is done without having to resort to mass complaints to get this done in the future
None the less, thank you for finally addressing this problem
Peter Low
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Mr. Low
Our records only show one call to the office from you to complain about trees. We have a great line crew and talking to them in the field is fine. However, I would recommend calling the office to get any issue recorded and into our system. Our crews can talk to many people on a given day and not all messages reach the office as they go from one job to the next.
Tree trimming has been a priority during my entire tenure at your cooperative. We spend over $1 million each year. We have exceeded this amount in recent years due to the many tree diseases we are seeing. Unfortunately, we can only trim 15 feet on either side of our pole line. As you know, we have a very mature forest and many trees outside our right of way have the ability to fall into our lines. We have almost 2,000 miles of overhead line that is cut on a 7 year rotation. We continually judge the effectiveness of this rotation via our outage times regardless of the number of complaints we get. When we look at cooperatives of similar size, we rank very well in the area of outage times and frequencies. Thus, I do feel like our tree trimming is very effective in results and in the best use of the available funds.
Thanks for taking the time to provide input and insight on your situation.
Sincerely
Tony Anderson, General Manager
Mr. Hagen
I do think our propaganda is honest. Every business that does good in the community does it on the backs of the people who support the particular business. Cherryland is no different. It is not a shell game to give money back that goes into the local economy. An investor owned utility would be sending that money to stockholders in all parts of the world. As a not for profit electric cooperative, we obviously do not. While I appreciate you taking the time to comment, I stand proudly by the impact your cooperative has in the community.
Sincerely
Tony Anderson, General Manager
Cherryland Electric Cooperative
We have been paying huge electric bills since 2009, averaging $150-$350 per month for a frugal household of two! We have never received any credit, only paid twice as much as a consumers energy bill would be. That is close to $20,000 for electric services over 7 years! Please let us know what our credit is currently and why we haven’t received credit before. Further, why people who cannot access consumers power pay such a higher rate through the “cooperative”? We have called regarding our always high electric bills, and can only wonder why rural folks pay a higher rate than those who live in town. We hope to learn how much our credit will be and how much possibly should have received from the prior dispursement. Good story but bottom line is keeping electric costs affordable in a challenging economic area. When home shopping, it is actually detrimental to the pocketbook to buy a home that utilizes CEC. One month we paid $65 for a home that sat empty, no appliances, and only one small light on. I apologize but that is a reality for some northern Michigan homeowners. Thank you, Stuart & Renee’
I will have someone contact you offline with our capital credit information. Cherryland Electric Cooperative is cheaper than Consumers Energy and has been for more than a year now. If you give me any residential bill from a Consumers Energy customer, Cherryland will be 5-10% cheaper depending on the number of kilowatt hours used. I am happy to sit down with you at any time and review any bills you would like. Every home uses electricity for many different reasons. I would suggest that you call our office at 486-9200 and ask for Energy Use Advisor Tammy Squires. Free of charge, Tammy can walk through your home and give you an analysis of what you have going on. You can also use our app on your smart phone to track your daily usage. This is often helpful to determine what days and times you are using more energy. Cherryland has not had a rate increase since 2011. We expect only minor increases over the next 10 years. I believe strongly that you have the best electricity provider in the area. I regret that you have not had a good experience with us thus far. I do think we can remedy this by working together to learn more about where you are using electricity. Thank you for providing your comments. – Tony Anderson