Cordova Electric Cooperative (CEC) plans to update customers on its considerable improvements over the past three years during its annual meeting March 17 at the Cordova Center.
Registration begins at 5 p.m., with the meeting to be held from 6-7 p.m., followed by appetizers and socializing in the atrium afterward, said CEO Clay Koplin.
The CEC nominating committee has nominated six members to run for the co-op’s board of directors. Two of the candidates are to be elected to three-year terms. Nominees include incumbents Steve Ranney and Andrew Smallwood, plus Penny Oswalt Stimson, Jeremy Botz, Pete Mickelson and Heather Thorne.
The outcome for 2025 is optimistic, as CEC pursues additional funds for hydro projects and gets community input on the projects, he said. Plans include adding another high-efficiency diesel to replace a failed 40-year-old diesel, and working to grow energy sales to spread operating costs over more sales to keep our rates down.
Last year marked the 47th anniversary of CEC, with the cooperative realizing benefits of improvements to the grid over the past three years, Koplin noted in the co-op’s 2024 annual report.
“Valve upgrades at the Power Creek Hydroelectric Project and the addition of higher efficiency, lower air emissions diesel generators helped us set a new renewable energy record of over 80% hydropower for the year,” Koplin said. “Our diesel fuel use reached a record low of 352,000 gallons, down sharply from the 600,000 gallons we used in 2022.”
Reduced diesel fuel use resulted in lowering electric bills by 14%, offsetting almost the entire 15.5% rate increase the co-op had to impose in April of last year. The co-op also saw record system reliability in 2024, with an average of only 23 minutes of average outage time per customer, or 99.996% on time.
Underground power lines assure high reliability of power distribution and now the power generation system is so reliable that the co-op went over a full year without a single loss due to power generation.
Koplin noted that the co-op was successful in receiving federal grants and low interest loans to develop hydropower storage to further reduce diesel use.
Federal financing is also adequate to add dam storage at the Humpback Creek hydroelectric project and develop Crater Lake Dam Storage project. The co-op is continuing to seek state, federal and partner grants to develop these sites to make Cordova 100% renewable energy generation.
Some of these grant funds are to be used to lend customers the money to install heat pumps. The co-op plans to develop a loan fund program for heat pumps as that money becomes available.
New winter incentive rates introduced in 2024 resulted in lower bills for some customers. The co-op anticipates that these rates will provide additional savings for new winter energy use for heat pumps, winter seafood processing, winter LED food production, hot tubs, and other uses.
