About

The Minnesota Rural Electric Association (MREA) represents electric cooperatives in the state of Minnesota. We foster unity among and provide service to all of Minnesota’s 50 electric cooperatives.
transmission lines with sunset in background

Our Mission

Providing our electric cooperative members collaborative leadership and expertise.

lineworker grew huddling with one man pointing

Our Vision

Serving as a leading voice influencing energy policy, promoting a strong culture of safety and providing relevant educational opportunities.

lineworker grew huddling with one man pointing

Our Values

Integrity: possessing integrity in all we do.

Service: serving and supporting each other and our members.

Forward-thinking: partnering with our members as we embrace the future

transmission lines with sunset in background

Our Mission

Providing our electric cooperative members collaborative leadership and expertise.

lineworker grew huddling with one man pointing

Our Vision

Serving as a leading voice influencing energy policy, promoting a strong culture of safety and providing relevant educational opportunities.

lineworker grew huddling with one man pointing

Our Values

Integrity.
Service.
Forward-thinking.

History

Electricity was available in many of America’s urban areas, but many still lacked power because of the prohibitable costs to get electricity to rural areas. For-profit utility companies would not provide electricity to rural Minnesota because they couldn’t make a profit in areas with low population density. Without electricity, the economies of rural areas were tied exclusively to agriculture.

Fewer than 7 percent of Minnesota farms had electric service. President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) and signed the Rural Electrification Act to bring power to rural America.

Even with the help of long-term, low-interest REA loans, bringing power to rural Minnesota was no small feat. The colossal efforts of electric cooperative pioneers faced high wholesale power costs, thinly settled areas, low farm incomes, and natural barriers of the varied Minnesota geography.  These Minnesotan farmers worked to build electric lines to rural Minnesota not because they wanted to get into the utility business, but because they could improve life for their communities. Thanks to the work of rural electric cooperatives, electricity transformed agriculture and life in rural America into productivity and prosperity.

Minnesota Rural Electric Association was formed to represent Minnesota’s electric cooperatives. Our mission sought to “promote and provide a medium for unity of efforts and exchanges of ideas among cooperative associations engaged in the distributions of electricity” — something we still do today.

Close to 80 percent of U.S. farms had electric service thanks to REA loans and the cooperative business model. Since then, generations have heard the stories about “the night the lights came on,” a significant date for farm families.

Minnesota’s electric cooperatives provide reliable, affordable electric service for 1.7 million Minnesotans across 85 percent of Minnesota’s landmass.

From moving to a more sustainable grid to promoting charging programs for electric vehicles, Minnesota’s not-for-profit electric co-ops are innovative industry leaders. Self dependence, cost consciousness, and member-focused culture drives co-op innovation.

Members

Under the successful and proven cooperative business model, Minnesota’s electric cooperatives are locally owned and rate-regulated by the members they serve. Cooperatives are governed by an elected board of directors who are also members of the organization. In a cooperative, the member-owners have equal voting rights (one member, one vote) and a vital and valued voice.

GENERATION AND TRANSMISSION COOPERATIVES

Distribution cooperatives purchase power from generation and transmission cooperatives.

Basin Electric Power Cooperative
Minnkota Power Cooperative
Dairyland Power Cooperative
East River Electric Power Cooperative
Great River Energy
L&O Power Cooperative

 

map of minnesota with cooperative logos and district lines

Cooperative Principles

Open and Voluntary Membership

Membership in a cooperative is open to all people who can reasonably use its services and stand willing to accept the responsibilities of membership, regardless of race, religion, gender, or economic circumstances.

Democratic Member Control

Cooperatives are democratic organizations controlled by their members, who actively participate in setting policies and making decisions. Representatives (directors/trustees) are elected among the membership and are accountable to them. In primary cooperatives, members have equal voting rights (one member, one vote); cooperatives at other levels are organized in a democratic manner.

Members’ Economic Participation

Members contribute equitably to, and democratically control, the capital of their cooperative. At least part of that capital remains the common property of the cooperative. Members allocate surpluses for any or all of the following purposes: developing the cooperative; setting up reserves; benefiting members in proportion to their transactions with the cooperative; and supporting other activities approved by the membership.

Autonomy and Independence

Cooperatives are autonomous, self-help organizations controlled by their members. If they enter into agreements with other organizations, including governments, or raise capital from external sources, they do so on terms that ensure democratic control as well as their unique identity.

Education, Training, and Information

Education and training for members, elected representatives (directors/trustees), CEOs, and employees help them effectively contribute to the development of their cooperatives. Communications about the nature and benefits of cooperatives, particularly with the general public and opinion leaders, help boost cooperative understanding.

Cooperation Among Cooperatives

By working together through local, national, regional and international structures, cooperatives improve services, bolster local economies, and deal more effectively with social and community needs.

Concern for Community

Cooperatives work for the sustainable development of their communities through policies supported by the membership.

Services

Governance

Minnesota Rural Electric Association exists for its members to provide service, unity, and leadership and is responsive to member feedback and needs. In line with democratic member control, we are divided into seven districts and governed by a fourteen-member board of directors, representing Minnesota’s electric cooperative interests.

Board meetings are held bi-monthly on the third Tuesday and Wednesday.

Staff

Darrick Moe

PRESIDENT &
CEO

Curt Freudenberg

Curt Freudenburg

Safety Specialist

Gayle Karol

Gayle Karol

Digital Media & MARKETING COORDINATOR

Krista Benjamin

Anthony Lenz

Director, Safety Services

Terry Ehli

Safety Specialist

 

Karen Miller

Karen Miller

Event & Education Program Specialist

Krista Benjamin

Joe Miller

Director, Communications

Curt Freudenberg

Shawn Marthaler

Safety Specialist

Karen Miller

Amanda Meredith

Event & Education Program Specialist

Melisa Stachovich

Melissa Stachovich

DIRECTOR, FINANCE & ADMIN.

Erick Boder

SAFETY COORDINATOR

Heather Hilson

Executive & Membership Coordinator

Jenny Glumack

Jenny Glumack

Director, Gov. Affairs

Karen Miller

Ryan Johnson

COMMUNICATIONS SPECIALIST

Karen Miller

Tricia Elite

Government Affairs Representative

Board of Directors

Wes Waller

Chair
MREA DISTRICT 2

North Itasca Electric Co-op, Inc.

Melisa Stachovich

Rick Coe

First Vice Chair
MREA DISTRICT 1

Beltrami Electric
Co-op, Inc.

Jeff Nornes

Second Vice Chair
MREA District 1

WILD RICE ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE

Ron Stevens

Secretary
MREA District 6

MiEnergy Cooperative

Jenny Glumack

Warren Rau

Treasurer
MREA District 3

Agralite Electric Cooperative

John Reynolds

MREA District 4

Wright-Hennepin Cooperative Electric Association

Krista Benjamin

Shelly Peterson

MREA District 7

CONNEXUS ENERGY

Curt Freudenberg

John DeYoe

MREA District 7

Dakota Electric Association

​Scott Thiesse

MREA District 5

Federated Rural Electric Association

Ron Schwartau

MREA District 5

Nobles Cooperative Electric

Jerry Tvedt

MREA District 4

East Central Energy

Gayle Karol

Tim Velde

MREA District 3

Minnesota Valley Cooperative Light & Power

Tracy Lauritzen

MREA District 6

PEOPLE’S ENERGY COOPERATIVE

Karen Miller

Aileen Demenge

MREA District 2

Mille Lacs Energy Cooperative