2024 Highlights
As a non-profit electric cooperative, the sole reason we exist is to serve you with reliable, affordable electric energy and related cooperative services. To accomplish that mission, our focus remains on three things: Rates, Reliability, and Safety.
Rates
We purchased 177,120 megawatt-hours of wholesale electricity from Sunflower Electric Power Corporation in Hays, KS and delivered it to you at cost. Wholesale power costs per kWh increased by 8.7% and wholesale power cost accounted for 53.7% of your total power bill.
We reviewed our utility rate structure in April 2024, revising our rates to deliver a total net cost per kWh reduction of 2.92%. That may not sound like much, but in the challenging 2024 US economy and inflationary times, we were able to produce an average savings of $94.67 per member per year.
Reliability
Lane-Scott tracks several utility industry standard reliability metrics. Our system average service availability index (ASAI) for 2024 was 99.92% while the average number of interruptions per meter (SAIFI) was 1.1 per meter.
Last year 91.6% of our system outages resulted from major storms and power supplier disruptions we have no control over. The rest, 8.4% or 33.7 minutes per meter, were the result of minor storms, animals, and other common disruptions.
Safety
Employee and community safety is always first in our thoughts. We continue to expand and improve our internal safety program. We partner with the Kansas Electric Cooperatives Association to offer employees monthly safety training. All linemen are trained in pole top rescue, first aid, CPR and in safety inspections and observations.
Our commitment to safety extends beyond our employees. The Lane-Scott Electric Cooperative offers high voltage safety education in our communities at no charge. This year, we were able to complete our own demonstration trailer. Having this valuable tool helps us better serve community members of all ages and occupations with electrical safety education.
Financial Position
The bottom-line is, your cooperative stayed focused on our core business of providing reliable, cost-effective power safely and finished 2024 with over $64 million in utility plant with a total of $35 million in long-term debt.
Non-operating margins had its best year in a while with our investments adding over $400,000 in interest earnings to the bottom line. Cooperative services including Generac generator sales and servicing, master electrician services, electrical parts, and equipment sales, and added almost $79,000 to the bottom line.
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. Last year, the Cooperative returned a record high $591,000 to members, bringing our total retirement to $1,933,338 over the past four years.
Cooperative Spirit
One of our most valued of the seven cooperative principles is Cooperation Among Cooperatives. In the event of disasters, cooperatives will rally their available crews to assist those who request mutual aid assistance. This past year, Lane-Scott both received assistance following summer windstorms, and answered the call in South Carolina following Hurricane Helene and in Bentonville, Arkansas after deadly tornadoes and straight-line winds.
We focus our sights on the original mission of the cooperative – to serve you. That is the heart, the soul, and the future of the electric cooperative movement. We are 26 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.