The year 2023 was a great year for Lane-Scott Electric Cooperative. Inflation leveled out at 3.09% after rising 19.55% in the previous three years; the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 1.0% from 4.5% to 5.5%, after raising it 4.25% in the previous three years; and gasoline prices dropped to an average of $3.52 per gallon, after rising from $2.17 to $3.95 in the previous three years.

Perhaps I should revise that statement to: After three years of challenges, 2023 was a great year. 

We evaluated every process, eliminated what didn’t work and streamlined what did.  We updated costs and fees, hardened our system, managed inventories, leveraged purchasing power, and we found new efficiencies.

One of the many benefits of an electric cooperative is that the reason we exist is to serve you with reliable, affordable electric energy and related cooperative services.  Our focus remains on three things: Rates, Reliability, and Safety.

Amid these challenging times, the Lane-Scott Electric Cooperative achieved the fifth lowest residential rate among Kansas cooperatives and about 15.4% below the local municipal rates.  Your Cooperative also achieved the second lowest non-primary metered industrial rate in Kansas: all while keeping your energy dollars local and remaining financially strong. 

Cheap power doesn’t mean much if the lights aren’t on.  Lane-Scott tracks several utility industry standard reliability metrics.  Our average service availability index for 2023 was 99.94% while the average number of interruptions per meter decreased to 1.02 per year.  Last year 46% of our system outages resulted from major storms and power supplier disruptions.

Lineman and community safety is always first in our thoughts.  Your Cooperative continued offering high voltage safety education to first responders and our communities at no charge.

The bottom-line is we stayed focused on our core business of providing reliable, cost-effective power and finished 2023 with almost $63 million in utility plant with a total of $35 million in long-term debt.  The Cooperative had $17.8 million in energy sales, with 58% of all revenues collected purchasing wholesale power.

Non-operating margins had its’ best year in a while with the good folks in Financial Services managing our investments and adding over $400k in interest earnings to the bottom line.  Cooperative services including Generac generator sales and servicing, master electrician services, electrical parts and equipment sales, added almost $79k to the bottom line.

The Merriam Webster dictionary defines the word cooperative as:

• Mutual assistance in working toward a common goal,
• A farm, business, or other organization which is owned and run jointly by its members, who share the profits or benefits.

Cooperatives are non-profit.  That’s the way we were founded and that’s the way we continue to operate.  If we make more than we need, we pay it back to you, our owners.  I am very happy to report that last year the Cooperative returned $451,588 of equity to members, bringing our total general retirement to $1,342,338.12 over the past three years.

We never know what the future holds, but we know that as a cooperative we are stronger together.  Every day we work toward our common goal of keeping the lights on and your costs reasonable.  We continue in our commitment to our communities and to keeping local dollars local. We investigate new technologies and efficiencies in workflow management, electric vehicle charging, solar and wind energy support, and demand side management options.

The past three years have been challenging, difficult, and frustrating, but things began looking up in 2023 and I am very optimistic about the future of your cooperative.  We took a few hits, like everyone else, but as a team we maintained low rates and high reliability and safety.  We expanded services and we supported our communities.  We are twenty-five employees strong, one cooperative in two convenient locations, and I am honored to be a part of the Lane-Scott Electric Cooperative family and to work alongside these great and dedicated individuals, serving you, every day.