Over 300 attend Southeast Electric Co-op annual meeting

Seventy-five years and counting.

Southeast Electric Cooperative’s annual meeting held on June 11 was a huge success. Over three hundred attendees, 155 of which were members, enjoyed steak, hamburgers, hotdogs, salads, beans, cake and ice cream. Two hundred thirty-one people were served at the co-op’s last annual meeting in 2019.

Over thirty-five door prizes were awarded including 2 tickets to the Medora Musical and pitchfork fondue, and (2) $500 cash prizes. For the first time all members who won a door prize were present to win. This year the co-op also awarded children’s prizes including bicycles, a backpack and a Bluetooth speaker. Kids were also treated to a bounce house and horse-drawn wagon rides were a big hit for all in attendance.

Claire Vigesaa, Upper Missouri, and Gary Wiens, MECA, gave updates from their organizations. Meeting goers heard about challenges and growth taking place throughout the area and state of Montana.

Jack Hamblin, general manager at Southeast Electric, was congratulated for his twenty-plus years with the cooperative. Hamblin has plans to retire before the next annual meeting. Details on a retirement celebration will be shared in the future.

Robin Kuntz was also congratulated for 40 years of employment with Southeast Electric. Kuntz exemplifies the cooperative spirit — members always come first.

The highlight of the evening was the entertainment provided by Hamblin and his entire family. The talented family performed twenty years ago at his first annual meeting and employees felt it would be appropriate if they did so at his last.

As of December 31, 2020, the cooperative had $21,090,694 in assets and $21,090,694 in liabilities. It had $7,296,624 in revenue and $6,120,530 in expenses for a net margin of $1,122,960 in 2020. Twenty-one more consumers were billed in 2020 than 2019. Members of the co-op used an average of 1108 KWH in 2020 compared to 1154 in 2019. Southeast Electric purchased 51,713,751 KWH in 2020.

Incumbents Mike Hansen, District 3, and Karen Kreitel, District 6, were elected by acclamation to serve two-year terms on the board of directors.