MECA News

Great Lakes Energy and Alger Delta Electric Co-ops Explore Merger

MECA2016-11-17T16:47:39-05:00October 15th, 2014|MECA News|

Great Lakes Energy (GLE) Cooperative, headquartered in Boyne City, MI, and Alger Delta Cooperative Electric Association, headquartered in Gladstone, MI, are engaged in discussions and associated due diligence to explore combining the two member-owned electric cooperatives into one larger organization. “We are excited about exploring the benefits of combining our two electric cooperatives,” said Richard Walsworth, GLE Chairman. “There could be many operational and [...]

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Join Strategy Sharing At New ‘Innovative Power Summit’

MECA2016-11-17T16:47:40-05:00October 15th, 2014|MECA News|

“The power landscape is shifting. Help your co-op prepare.” is the theme of the new “Innovative Power Summit 2014” that NRECA has created to help electric co-ops shape their strategies and the course of the industry. Co-op communicators and finance professionals, engineering and technical staff, CEOs and others are invited to attend Oct. 28-30 at the J.W. Marriott-Indianapolis, IN. “This event will bring together [...]

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Electric Co-ops Send 1 million Comments To EPA, More To Come

MECA2014-10-14T17:05:18-04:00October 14th, 2014|MECA News|

America’s electric co-ops have marked a new milestone in their grassroots strength as we reach 1 million comments sent to the EPA in opposition to its proposed rule targeting existing power plants. Collected through http://action.coop and tellepa.com, the comments are coming from all 50 states. As of mid-October, 526 comments were from Michigan, and in surrounding states, 57,484 came through Ohio co-ops; 20,534 - [...]

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Pohl Is New HomeWorks Tri-County Board Member

MECA2014-10-13T16:45:08-04:00October 13th, 2014|MECA News|

Luke Pohl, of Westphalia, a local businessman and 31-year high school basketball coach, will fill an open seat on the HomeWorks Tri-County Electric board. Chosen from eight candidates, Pohl is filling the remaining year of a term formerly held by Carl Morton, who retired after 36 years of service. Pohl represents District 3, which serves Clinton County except Bingham, Duplain and Greenbush townships. Pohl [...]

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GLE Board Approves Changes To Fees, Billing Rules

MECA2016-11-17T16:47:40-05:00October 13th, 2014|MECA News|

Changes to Great Lakes Energy’s “Rate Book for Electric Service” were recently approved by its board, and take effect Jan. 1, 2015. In accordance with P.A. 167 of 2008, the changes affect some special charges, such as the Misc. Special Service Charge and Bad Check Handling Fee, line extension fees, load management eligibility, deposit interest, and establish a new rate that enables eligible members [...]

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Cherryland Returns $4.2 million To Members
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Cherryland Returns $4.2 million To Members

MECA2014-10-13T16:38:51-04:00October 2nd, 2014|MECA News|

Cherryland Electric Co-op (CEC) is returning a record-setting $4.2 million in capital credits to it members, effective on their October 2014 billings. Margins earned are allocated to individual co-op members annually in proportion to the amount of kilowatt-hours consumed during that year. In addition, CEC’s financial situation allowed them to eliminate their Power Supply Cost Recovery (PSCR) for September and October. “We will continue [...]

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Ontonagon County Board of Directors Approves $3 million System Expansion
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Ontonagon County Board of Directors Approves $3 million System Expansion

MECA2014-10-01T14:45:27-04:00October 1st, 2014|MECA News|

The Ontonagon County Rural Electrification Association (OCREA) Board of Directors recently approved plans for a series of upgrades to the cooperative’s electrical distribution system. Wolverine Power Cooperative is assisting OCREA with the project, which involves the design and construction of a new substation, and associated distribution facilities. The project’s primary purpose is to provide increased service reliability to more than 700 of OCREA’s existing [...]

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Utility Software Will Test for Cybersecurity Compliance
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Utility Software Will Test for Cybersecurity Compliance

MECA2014-09-29T10:18:22-04:00September 29th, 2014|MECA News|

MultiSpeak®, a software standard used by utilities worldwide, has announced it is ready to test software applications for compliance with cybersecurity requirements. MultiSpeak is the first utility software standard to include cybersecurity as part of compliance testing. The program was developed and is maintained by a collaboration of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) and the 150-plus software vendors, consultants and utilities belonging [...]

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Midwest Energy Receives NISC Award
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Midwest Energy Receives NISC Award

MECA2016-11-17T16:47:40-05:00September 29th, 2014|MECA News|

Midwest Energy was honored at last week's Member Information Conference in St. Louis with a Service Excellence Award for working with NISC to introduce a new bill print earlier this year. “Our bills are a primary line of communication to our members, so the project goal was to improve the member experience by providing an enhanced layout with more options so they can better [...]

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MSU: Solar Energy That Doesn’t Block the View
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MSU: Solar Energy That Doesn’t Block the View

MECA2014-09-29T10:09:36-04:00September 29th, 2014|MECA News|

MSU researchers are working on a transparent luminescent solar concentrator that can be used on buildings, cell phones and other devices with clear surfaces. The solar harvesting system uses small organic modules developed by Prof. Richard Lunt to absorb specific wavelengths of sunlight. The infrared light is guided to the edge of the plastic, where it is converted to electricity by thin strips of [...]

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