You are cordially invited by the MVEC Board of Directors and staff to join your fellow cooperative members at the 75th Annual Meeting & Member Appreciation Event.

The event will be held Wednesday, June 13, at the Scott County Fairgrounds in Jordan. Map Registration begins at 4:30 with dinner served until 7 p.m. The business meeting begins at 7 p.m. There will be pulled pork sandwiches, cooperative information booths, entertainment for all ages and results of the Board of Director Elections.

For complete details, read the May issue of the Electric Eye.

This year’s Board of Director election features 13 MVEC members running for five available seats. There are two seats open in District I, one seat in District II and two seats in District 3. Ballots will be mailed out to MVEC members in May and need to be returned by June 13. If you do not mail back your ballot, you may vote at the Annual Meeting on June 13 instead.

Complete biographies of all candidates can be viewed here. To determine your voting district, please refer to the map below.

In 2012, MVEC may be changing the load management receiver on the side of your home.

The load management receiver is located next to your electric meter, typically as shown below:

What is a load management receiver?
A load management receiver is a device that interrupts power to certain products on MVEC’s Energy Wise programs, including air conditioners, water heaters, plenum heaters and garage heaters. You receive a lower electric rate in exchange for allowing MVEC to interrupt power to those products.

Why is the load management receiver being exchanged?
The load management receivers need to be exchanged because the Federal Communications Commission eliminated the frequency on which the existing receivers communicate.

Will this cost me anything?
No – there is no cost to our members.

Will this change my Energy Wise program?
No – your Energy Wise programs will not change.You will still receive the same great rate.

Who will be doing the receiver exchange?
MVEC has contracted with a local electric company, Power House, to conduct the receiver exchanges. They will have MVEC logos on the side of their vehicles.

How can I tell if the load management receiver is activated?
There are three lights on the front of the load management receiver. If the light next to the word “Demand” is lit, the receiver is activated and interrupting power to the products installed on the Energy Wise program.

If you bought electricity from MVEC in 1991, your April electric bill will be offset with a credit — called a capital credit. This is your member-owner share of MVEC’s margins. A total of $751,000 will be allocated to members who qualify. Former members will be sent a check.

Because MVEC is a not-for-profit organization, all capital credits — also called margins — are returned to the membership. The cooperative normally retires capital credits on a first-in, first-out basis, retaining funds for a period of time to satisfy our lender’s loan covenants and equity requirements.

Senior and estate retirements

Members who are age 70 and older may opt to receive the balance of their capital credits paid out at a discounted rate.

For questions about capital credits, contact Darlene or Joan at 952.492.2313 or read more.

Warm spring and summer weather can bring strong storms with the capability of causing power outages. Over one-third of MVEC’s annual outages are caused by weather conditions, usually tree branches coming in contact with power lines.

One of the most important things you can do to help speed outage restoration is to make sure your top two phone numbers are correct in our database.

MVEC makes every attempt to have your calls answered by a helpful employee. However, when calling to report an outage during a major storm, chances are you will get MVEC’s automated phone outage management system. When the automated system handles outage calls, MVEC dispatchers are able to focus on assigning crews to various sites to restore your power quicker.

Why do we need your number? The automated system works with your phone numbers in MVEC’s database to identify the location of your power outage. If your phone number is different from the number MVEC has listed for your address, it may take longer to locate your outage. Update your phone records now.

Visit the Power Outage section to learn more, including:

• outage status information
• live outage map 
• restoration process
• storm readiness
• tree trimming
• view our Dispatch Center video

In the event of a large outage, status updates will appear directly on the website’s home page. MVEC also can call affected members through an automatic phone system to provide status information during and after the outage.

Storm damage safety

• Always assume downed power lines are “live” and stay away.
• Report downed power lines to MVEC at 952.492.8255 or 800.232.2328.
• Do not attempt to remove anything in contact with a downed power line or drive across a downed power line.
• If you are inside a car in contact with a downed power line, stay inside the car and use your cell phone to call for help.
• If someone is shocked by contact with a downed line, call 911 immediately and do not touch the person.

Additional safety tips

Want to save 10 percent on four months’ of summer electric bills? The Energy Wise® Unmetered Air Conditioning program saves money and conserves energy. Over 7,000 MVEC residential members participate in this FREE program — without compromising the comfort level of their homes in the summer.

How it works
At no charge, MVEC will install an energy management switch on your home near the central air conditioner. On hot and humid days, during high demand electricity usage, MVEC sends a signal to the switch which cycles the air conditioner on and off at 15-minute intervals. During this time, the furnace fan continues to circulate cool air. When electric demand decreases for the day, the switch automatically returns the air conditioner to its regular mode.

Members who participate in the Energy Wise® Unmetered Air Conditioning program receive a 10 percent discount on their entire residential electric bill during the months of June, July, August and September. See the details

If your air conditioner needs replacing, don’t buy old technology again. Install an air source heat pump instead. A heat pump cools your home in the summer and provides heat during most of the winter months.  See our March Bill Insert

Now you can save even more with two new programs added to the Co-op Connections Card: Healthy Savings and My VIP Savings. The Healthy Savings package offers significant savings on dental, vision, hearing, lab & imaging and chiropractic services. To take advantage of these  new savings, you will need to print out a new paper Co-op Connections card here. Be sure to choose Minnesota Valley Electric Cooperative on the online form.

My VIP Savings is similar to an internet mall where you can enjoy savings at over 1,000 of your favorite online stores including, Walmart, Macys, Best Buy and Target just to name a few – plus, you receive CashBack dollars on every qualifying purchase. To get started, sign up for a complimentary My VIP Savings account (have the group number from the back of your Co-op Connections card handy) and to make sure you get credit on your purchases, enter the participating online stores through the My VIP Savings website.

Additional information on both of these exciting new programs