The 82st Annual Meeting will be held Saturday, August 28, 2027, in Moorcroft. Plans are to showcase the LaBelle Prairie Solar Energy/Battery Storage project in Moorcroft.
Powder River Energy 81st Annual Meeting was August 22
More than 300 Powder River Energy members cast ballots for the 81st Annual Meeting Saturday, August 22, at Buffalo High School. However, the razor-thin quorum margin raised concerns among cooperative leadership for increased member attendance.
WATCH a video of the meeting.
The event featured a wellness fair, updates from cooperative officers, a free lunch and door prizes. Attendees took home a variety of gifts including a 2027 PRECorp calendar, hats, and other items.
The minimum quorum requirement of 100 members attending in-person was exceeded by 1, and 224 votes were cast by mail
Cooperative members cast ballots for four director seats, re-electing Philip Habeck (Crook County), Mike Helvey (Sheridan County), and Clay Branscom (Weston County). In Campbell County, James Tarver defeated sitting director Ty Pirtz. Pirtz was appointed in 2024 to the Board to fill out the remainder of a vacated term. PRECorp CEO Brian Mills thanked Pirtz for stepping in and serving the membership for the past three years.
Special guests included Wyoming Rural Electric Association (WREA) Executive Director Shawn Taylor, Basin Electric CEO Todd Brickhouse, and Basin VP of Member Services Chris Baumgartner. Representatives from other cooperatives in Montana also attended.
Joshua Crews, Sundance High School, thanked the PRECorp membership for sponsoring him and four other local high school students at the Cooperative Youth Leadership Camp. The camp, held in Steamboat, Colorado, with students from Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma, and Wyoming, includes lessons on the unique cooperative business model, safety, and conservation.
PRECorp Foundation Executive Director Joe Roth outlined the progress of the Foundation’s charitable giving on behalf of the cooperative. He announced a $15,000 donation to the Johnson County Healthcare Foundation toward the purchase of a handicapped transport van for patients in the county to access local services.
CEO Mills’ message of the day announced a power cost increase being passed down from Basin Electric to its member cooperatives. Mills said the numbers are not finalized yet, but could be as high as $9 per month more per member in 2027. Final numbers will be released later in September.
Mills emphasized the rate increase is more about the realities of local cooperatives controlling where their power comes from. “There is a lot of power in the cooperative model. Now is the time to invest,” Mills said. “We are sitting in the future that others built for us 20 years ago. Now we need to build for our future generations.” In order to control the power generation, new facilities must be built to meet increasing demand, follow rules of the regional power grid, and satisfy financial lenders.
Mills said that without the large family of cooperatives under the Basin umbrella, these costs would likely be much higher, and decision-making would lack local input. “You have spent 80 years investing half a billion dollars in building assets in northeast Wyoming that is ready to serve,” he said. Mills added that the initiating ag industry has grown to include world-class, large industrial loads.
Mills also said that a threat to cooperative independence in Wyoming is proposed third-party generation where a large power user generates its own electricity, but offers to sell the excess to neighboring users. This could threaten the territories of electric cooperatives.
“Energy is an essential service,” Mills said. He said changes in attitudes toward cooperatives, innovation to make usage more efficient, and stronger bonds between cooperatives can greatly impact our collective future.
More in-person attendees needed
After PRECorp Board Secretary-Treasurer Gerry Geis outlined the highlights of the annual financials of the cooperative, he asked those in attendance to do a little extra in 2027. “I am amazed at the people that come here year after year,” Geis said. “In order to keep this coop going strong for the next 50 to 100 years, we need involvement. I encourage you to bring someone with you next year that is under the age of 40. Encourage someone to participate.”
In order for the meeting to be official and the Board elections to be counted, a quorum of 100 members must register in person at the meeting. This year, the number was reached only five minutes prior to Board President Jim Purdy calling the meeting to order. Purdy echoed Geis’ remarks encouraging more members to attend in person.
Purdy highlighted the work of the PRECorp financial team, and all the employees, in their work to ensure the costs and rates paid by the members are stable and predictable. “They truly are committed to improving our lives as member owners,” he said.
LISTEN to the candidates introduce themselves
See candidate profiles and the mail-in ballot on the back cover of the WREN magazine.