2025 Annual Meeting Recap

More than 335 members tuned in to this year’s virtual annual meeting. The meeting was led by Board of Trustees President David Evans and began with a prayer from board member Jay Hasbrook. 

Controlling costs while maintaining reliable electricity 
In his report to members, General Manager Tom Wolfenbarger explained the cooperative’s financial forecast projected a small rate increase in July. The cooperative’s management staff and board of trustees were able to delay the rate increase until at least July 2026, even while facing inflation on the costs of materials, equipment, and labor. 

Planning for the future 
The cooperative’s leadership staff will work on a cost-of-service study within the coming months. Cost-of-service studies evaluate the cost structures of the cooperative and allocate those costs equitably to our various revenue classes. Rates are then analyzed to ensure costs are recovered and margins are generated fairly among the rate tariffs implemented by the cooperative. 

Employees in our engineering department and consultants will spend many hours this summer analyzing load growth trends, looking at local capacity, and evaluating projects that will meet the needs of our members now and in the future while working on our new construction work plan. We submit these plans to the USDA’s Rural Utilities Service to gain pre-approval of funding for a portion of these projects. These low-interest loans have helped us maintain service at an affordable price. 

Growth in our service territory 
The Trailhead Subdivision in Crosby Township is the largest single development the cooperative has undertaken. The Venice Crossing project in Ross Township continues its steady development and the next sections of the Ross Trails development will extend into our service territory. Commercial development on the north side of Oxford is advancing and our engineering and operations departments have received residential and commercial inquiries in the Oxford area. 

The activity in the north makes our Milford Substation upgrade timely. The cooperative has contracted New River Electric to upgrade the substation with relays and new insulators. This project will maximize the available capacity of the new transformer, improve reliability, and improve safety at the substation. 

Generator program helps members during outages 
The cooperative has worked to educate members on grid reliability and the risk for rolling power outages during extreme conditions due to plant shutdowns, growing reliance on intermittent sources of power, and load growth due to data centers. We want to help if rolling outages occur, so we implemented a backup generator and transfer switch installation program. The cooperative has installed more than a dozen units for members to use with portable generators and are working on our first whole-home backup generators purchased through our generator program. 

Local transmission system improvements 
Duke Energy continues to work on its new Ross Substation on U.S. 27 south of Millville, behind White Oak Church. While this is not a cooperative project, it will have a positive impact on the reliability of cooperative substations located along the U.S. 27 corridor, shortening outage times for transmission issues. Cooperative personnel meet with Duke Energy annually to discuss reliability concerns, and we are excited to finally see this project underway. 

Keeping your information safe 
Artificial intelligence is driving the need for strong cybersecurity policies and processes. Your cooperative takes this responsibility seriously. Board members receive an update from staff regarding IT efforts each month. We also complete statewide and national cybersecurity programs to make sure we are doing everything we can to keep your information safe. 

President’s report 
During his report to members, Board of Trustees President David Evans explained safety is one of the most important concerns among electric cooperatives. This year, we will complete the Rural Electric Safety Achievement Program to help optimize safety practices, fostering improved safety behavior for our employees. 

Supporting new events 
We are excited to sponsor different events in 2025 to support more communities throughout our service territory. This year, we redistributed funds to sponsor events like the Ross Lion’s Club Easter Egg Hunt, Camden’s Black Walnut Festival, and Shandon’s Christmas in the Country. 

Evans thanked the 325 members who participate in the America’s Electric Cooperatives Political Action Committee, or PAC. The PAC is a bipartisan organization that focuses on issues instead of party affiliations and supports state and federal government officials who stand behind legislation that supports electric cooperative members. The PAC gives co-op members a powerful, persuasive voice in Washington and Columbus. This program enables members to be involved in the political process, support their local electric cooperative, and speak out to government officials. 

Add solar power to your energy mix 
Butler Rural Electric Cooperative’s community solar program offers one of the cleanest and most affordable renewable energy sources available. By grouping solar panels together, costs are shared, power output is maximized, and the hassle of rooftop installation is avoided. You can purchase subscriptions to Butler Rural Community Solar panels to support the benefits of solar energy without incurring upfront costs and without having solar panels located at your home. Community solar subscribers can lock in the community solar rate while other wholesale energy costs are subject to increases with market fluctuations. Contact us if you would like to subscribe to panels. 

New rate plans for members 
We introduced two new rate plans to members last year. Our time-of-day rate and electric vehicle rider encourage energy use during off-peak hours, when electricity is less expensive, to help members and the co-op save money. We also released a new $1,000 level 2 electric vehicle charger rebate at the same time, which several members have used when installing EV chargers at their homes. 

Cooperation among cooperatives 
Cooperatives work together to make a difference, especially when extra hands are needed to restore power after severe weather events. Five cooperative employees exemplified this principle and assisted Broad River Electric Cooperative in South Carolina following extensive damage caused by Hurricane Helene. Butler Rural Electric Cooperative lineworkers Ray Brunner, Steve Abrams, Mick Johnson, Noah Krall, and Andrew Straight helped restore power and gained valuable experience working to rebuild storm-damaged equipment. Thank you to these employees for your hard work and dedication. 

Join us for next year’s virtual annual meeting! 
We understand some members missed our in-person meeting, and we appreciate those of you who shared feedback about the meeting with us. The virtual meeting was part of an evaluation the board of trustees made on the most effective way to conduct its annual meeting. Survey results from the virtual meeting were overwhelmingly positive, with nearly 80% of members surveyed preferring a virtual meeting over other meeting formats. Because of these survey results and the considerable cost savings the virtual meeting offers the cooperative, the board of trustees has decided to have a virtual annual meeting in 2026. For those who prefer to meet in-person, we will have an opportunity to view the meeting and meet with co-op leadership during Family Day in 2026.

Click here to watch the full annual meeting video.