A community of cooperative members gathered at the Reif Center in Grand Rapids, Minn., for the annual membership meeting on Thursday evening, April 24, 2025. More than 350 members and guests gathered to hear about the challenges facing the electric industry and the innovative actions Lake Country Power is taking to overcome obstacles.
Mark Bakk, Lake Country Power general manager, reported about his advocacy work to keep electric service affordable and reliable. Bakk spends a lot of time working with Great River Energy, LCP’s wholesale power supplier, and advocating with state and federal legislators for policies that align with providing safe, reliable and affordable energy services for co-op members.
“I was in St. Paul earlier this month and I will be in Washington, D.C., next week,” said Bakk, LCP general manager. “We take affordability and reliability of your electric service very seriously and will continue to advocate for you, our members, at both the state and federal levels.”
Bakk also reported about the aggressive construction of transmission infrastructure that’s needed to carry mandated carbon-free energy from where it is generated to end users. These costs will have a significant impact on electric rates. Great River Energy estimates it will invest more than $2 billion in the new transmission line buildout as part of a larger collaboration among other regional utilities which has a total price tag estimated at $30 billion. Transmission costs are about 21% of Great River Energy’s wholesale power costs to Lake Country Power and are expected to double in the next 10 years.
Bakk addressed material costs and supply chain issues, which have somewhat stabilized, but prices are not expected to normalize to pre-Covid pandemic numbers. He also spoke about the decision to hire additional crews whose primary task is working on large-scale construction projects and age-related line replacements normally done by contractors. In today’s workforce, contractor availability is scarce and costly so moving this body of work in-house is productive and saving money.
Bakk concluded with remarks about LCP’s right-of-way management plan, which he said is the biggest contributor to improving reliability and hopes members are noticing fewer blinks and outages. Bakk gave thanks to members for their understanding and support over another challenging year as the co-op strives for excellence in providing affordable and reliable electric service.
Tracy Peterson Wirtanen, LCP chief financial officer, provided an overview of the co-op’s 2024 financial results including how the increasing cost of purchased power led to a rate increase in 2025.
A presentation by Lake Country Power’s wholesale energy provider, Great River Energy, highlighted 2024 accomplishments including route approval for the Northland Reliability Project to build new transmission lines.
A special presentation during the annual meeting recognized ten school districts within Lake Country Power’s service area with funding through the cooperative’s Education Improvement Program. The program is funded through abandoned and unclaimed capital from previous members who can no longer be located and is allowed by the State of Minnesota. The funds cannot be used for Lake Country Power operations.
Reports were given by LCP Board President Craig Olson, General Manager Mark Bakk, Chief Financial Officer Tracy Peterson Wirtanen, Holding Company President Daniel Kingsley, and Eric Olsen, Great River Energy’s vice president and general counsel.
Annual meeting videos can be found on Lake Country Power’s website, www.lakecountrypower.coop, or the co-op’s You Tube channel at www.youtube.com/lakecountrypower.
District 2:
Mike Forsman, Ely, 624 votes
District 4:
Jeff Sheldon, Cohasset, 353 votes
District 8:
Brian Napstad, McGregor, 443 votes
Lake Country Power awarded an EGO wet-dry vacuum as the grand prize. Two Quilts of Valor were awarded by the Queen of Peace Quilters of Cloquet and one Quilt of Valor from Patchwork Pals of Remer.
Immediately following the adjournment of the annual meeting, the board of directors held a re-organizational meeting. Board officers are: Craig Olson from District 7, President; Daniel Kingsley from District 6, Vice President; Mike Forsman from District 2, Secretary; and Jeff Sheldon from District 4, Treasurer.