October 2023 Highline Notes Editorial

Rain or shine, day or night, we're here for you. 

October is National Co-op Month

Marshal Albright, president/CEO Cass County Electric Cooperative

Programs & services
In this issue of the Highline Notes, our communications team is featuring programs and services the cooperative offers our members. We talk a lot about our focus on reliability and affordability, but there are numerous benefits our members can take advantage of to use energy wisely. In this issue, you will see information on renewable energy options, including community solar, renewable energy credits, and distributed energy resources. You can also learn about alternatives to access and manage your account, including paperless billing, levelized budget billing, the Cass County Electric mobile app, and other online account access tools. For added convenience, members have numerous options to pay their bills: Autopay, PrePay, Interactive Voice Response (IVR), mail, phone, in-person, and drop-off box.

The cooperative has invested in software that shows current outages, and if you have an outage, please call 701-356-4400 to report the outage. The call triggers our IVR system to help us identify where the outage is and how many people the outage impacts. If an outage affects you, and if we have your mobile number, a text message will inform you of the outage status.

Community is the backbone of the cooperative. Cass County Electric sponsors numerous community events for members to attend. We offer an energy tour of the power plant for members to learn more about how their power is produced. Giving back to the community is a high priority. Several employees volunteer to serve on boards or committees to help enhance our community. Our most significant support for the communities we serve comes from our members’ support for Operation Round Up, a program where members round up their bill to the nearest dollar. Proceeds go to fund organizations in need and are approved by a volunteer board. In 2022, Operation Round Up donated over $220,000 to help our communities.

The cooperative supports economic development so our region can grow and flourish and advocates for legislation that positively impacts North Dakota’s energy industry and workforce issues.

The cooperative is in the business of selling electricity, and we are excited to share information about how you can use energy wisely. Your trusted energy experts can advise on electric vehicles (EVs), EV charging options, off-peak heating, off-peak water heating, and everything related to electricity use.

We offer much more than I have mentioned, so I encourage you to visit the programs and services section in this issue of the Highline Notes, our official publication to share information about the cooperative with our membership.

Member Meeting
On Oct. 17, members will have the opportunity to hear about the state of the cooperative at our member information meeting. Numerous topics will be discussed, including proposed federal regulations impacting the energy industry, an update on Project Tundra, renewable energy programs, electric vehicle programs, and much more.

The member meeting will include a free meal for members starting at 5:00 p.m. at the Hilton Garden Inn, Fargo. The meeting will begin at 5:30 p.m.

Retirement
After some serious consideration with my family and 37 years of service, I have decided to retire from the cooperative next spring. The board of directors has begun the process for my replacement. They are using an executive search team from the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association to screen candidates and provide the board with qualified candidates for consideration to lead Cass County Electric Cooperative in the future. I can’t tell you how grateful I am to have served the members of this extraordinary cooperative for the past 37 years.