2025 Senior Scholarship Application
Criteria for applying:
Applicant Name:
Address: Phone:
Name of College, trade school or certified program you plan to attend: ________________________________________________
Please give a record of your participation in organizations, leadership positions, activities, any offices held, and any awards received during your high school career; and any other out of school activities, awards, or community service to be considered:
________________ ______________
Please list any hobbies or special interests you may have:
Please list any work experiences:
Please attach a (single-sided, one-page, 500-700 words), essay on the Cooperative principle of "Voluntary Open Membership" describing same in your own words.
Signature _________________________________ Date ___________________________________
Lost River Electric Cooperative, Inc. (LREC) is a non-profit power distribution corporation owned by its membership. LREC subscribes to the seven cooperative principles, which guide cooperatives in their organization and business models.
*************************************************************************************************************************************************************
2025 Sophomore and Junior’s ICUA Scholarship
Application ICUA – Youth Rally July 7-11, 2025
All Expenses Paid - $750.00 Scholarship
Criteria for applying:
Applicant Name:
Address: Phone:
Name of College, trade school or certified program you plan to attend: ________________________________________________
Please give a record of your participation in organizations, leadership positions, activities, any offices held, and any awards received during your high school career; and any other out of school activities, awards, or community service to be considered:
________________ ______________
Please list any hobbies or special interests you may have:
Please list any work experiences:
Please attach a (single-sided, one-page, 500-700 words), essay. Lost River Electric Cooperative, Inc. (LREC) is a non-profit power distribution corporation owned by its membership. Please define in your own words what a Cooperative means to you and how does it benefit its members.
Signature __________________________________ Date _______________________________
Lost River Electric Cooperative, Inc. (LREC) is a non-profit power distribution corporation owned by its membership. LREC subscribes to the seven cooperative principles, which guide cooperatives in their organization and business models.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
NOVEMBER 6, 2024
LOST RIVER ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE, INC.
85th ANNUAL MEETING OF THE MEMBERS
At The Mackay High School Auditorium
In Mackay, Idaho6:00 P.M. Registration
7:00 P.M. Business Meeting
MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE MEMBERS
The 85th Annual Meeting of the Members of Lost River Electric Cooperative, Inc. was held at the Mackay High School Auditorium, Mackay, Idaho, on Wednesday, November 6, 2024.
Stephen K. King offered the invocation.
President Randy R. Purser called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM. Secretary Madeline S. Mocettini-Hansen stated that a quorum was present.
A list of those represented in person, by absentee ballot, or credential is on file at the Cooperative office. The first order of business was the reading of the Notice of Meeting. A motion was made by Kim B. Davies Ken Day seconded by Henry L. Adema Jefferson H. Kraczek, that the reading of the notice be waived. Motion carried. The secretary was instructed to annex said Notice of Meeting to the 2017 2024 minutes.
The next order of business was the reading of the 2016 2023 Annual Meeting of the Members minutes. A motion was made by Leola A. Duke, seconded by Albert C. Krause Kenneth M. Day that the reading of the minutes be waived. Motion carried. Secretary was informed to annex said minutes of the 2016 2023 Annual Meeting of the Members to the 2017 2024 minutes. exception of Dean L. Myler, who was absent.
Randy Purser the President and Director representing District 2, then went on to introducede the current Board of Directors:
From District 1, Travis J. Buckwalter, Madeline S. Mocettini-Hansen, Secretary of the Board, and Trent G. Brownlee.
From District 2, the Board Vice President, Susan M. Harris, and Lynn O. Rothwell.
From District 3, James D. McKelvey, Stacey L. Moorman, and Bret L. Zollinger.
After the introduction of Directors President Purser went on to introduce the following guests: Celeste Schwendiman, Account Executive for BPA, Brad Morrison, Transmission Specialist BPA, Robert Hurtig from Electrical Consultants Inc., and Jerry Rigby from Andrus & Rigby Law Office.
Randy Purser thanked on behalf of the Cooperative, the Mackay
School District for use of their facility and Proud Source Water for donation of the water.
Prior to the introduction of nominees Randy Purser gave tribute to Lynn O. Rothwell who was retiring and who had served
the Cooperative for 37 years.
Randy Purser introduced the following 2024 nominees:
From District 1: Jerry Browne, and Travis Buckwalter.
From District 2: Stephanie Leavitt, Joshua Pehrson,
Don Wainright, and Wrangler Williams.
From District 3: James McKelvey.
President Purser continued with the introduction of the election judges and provided to the Members an explanation of the voting procedure for directors.
The ballots for voting for directors as were collected by the judges who retired to tally same.
Vice President Susan M. Harris then presented the Treasurer’s Annual Report. President Randy R. Purser asked if there were any questions. Since there were no questions, the report will stand approved as presented.
ManagerBrad J. Gamett then presented his report to the membership. Manager Gamett started his report by expressing gratitude to Dean Myler who recently passed away as he had served on the Board of Directors. He also gave thanks to the Board for their dedication and appreciation to the LREC employees.
Manager Gamett gave a presentation summing up the 2024 year for the Cooperative and all the recent changes. The report
included three main topics: Safety, Reliability, and Affordability.
Regarding safety, he stated how the Line workers strive to safely keep the system functioning, especially in inclement
weather. The Cooperative strives to keep the employees and the general public safe.
Manager Gamett went on to speak of the reliability of our system and the challenges of facing the energy market regionally
and nationally. Manager Gamett updated the membership on the improvement of outages and meter reading by the advanced
metering system or AMI. He explained the threat of the removal of the Lower Snake River dams and the impact that would have
on the wholesale power industry. The Cooperative has always been an advocate of the dams as they provide clean and reliable
power. The Cooperative has made great strides in system maintenance along with system hardening or wildfire prevention.
The Cooperative works to provide a reliable system through upgrades and pole wrapping and testing. Further, the Cooperative
spends annually between $100,000 to $125,000 on tree trimming. Robert Hurtig, the engineer for the Cooperative, also monitors
the system to see where upgrades are needed and what to be repaired or replaced. In 2022 the Cooperative implemented a Wildfire Mitigation
Plan, to prevent or deter fires and to assist by monitoring the system from ever causing a fire. He discussed how the
Cooperative was wrapping poles to deter damage to the system in case of a fire.
Manager Gamett went on to cover affordability. Manager Gamett spoke of the many energy conservation projects that were
being completed by the members of the cooperative. He spoke about growth and how the number of services has increased.
Manager Gamett explained that due to growth the Cooperative has outgrown our federal allocation and will therefore be going
into tier 2 next year or market-based power. Manager Gamett explained that this year there were credits applied to our
wholesale power cost in 2023, or a Reserve Distribution Credit, however, these credits will not continue. Due to the credits on the
wholesale power costs, the Cooperative was able to have a healthy margin in 2023, allowing the Cooperative to retire $509,722 in
patronage capital. With the increase in wholesale power costs and the increase in materials, supplies, etc., the Board of Directors after
consideration moved to raise the kWh charge by three percent. There will be no increase in the basic facility charge or horsepower charge.
Manager Gamett explained that on a regular farm or home service of 1200 kWh the increase is approximately $2.40.
Manager Gamett then asked the membership questions.
Questions from the membership related to the AMI system, energy credits, and why the Cooperative does not have a generation
resource of its own.
In response to the question regarding AMI, Manager Gamett explained it was the new Automated metering Infrastructure investment into the Cooperative’s system. Along with the basic task of reading meters, it allows the Cooperative to see possible issues prior so we can be proactive
rather than reactive.
He addressed the question of energy certificates by stating that those are credits given for our portion of renewable energy
credits allotted to the Federal Columbia River Hydroelectric System. He further added that the Bonneville Power Association
markets those on our behalf.
Manager Gamett addressed the final topic of why the cooperative does not invest in our own power resource. Manager
Gamett advised members that the Cooperative is a full-service customer of BPA. Full-service customer means that the
Cooperative is obligated by contract to purchase all its energy from Bonneville to receive the low rate that we have. This does
not prohibit our members in any way from doing conservation or generations projects. The Cooperative could change their
contract status with Bonneville, but there would be a lot of costs associated with this, and we still could not compete with
the economies of scale.
Manager Gamett concluded by stating that the Cooperative is in a healthy financial condition, shown by a capital credit
retirement of just over a half a million dollars. This retirement amounts to 5% of the Cooperative’s total distributed
(allocated) patronage balance. Additionally, the rate increase of three percent is only on the kWh, not on the basic facility
charge or the horsepower.
Manager Gamett thanked the members again for attending. President Purser asked if there was any old business. There being none, President Purser asked if there was any new business, there being no new business either, President Purser continued to the drawing for prizes.
The drawing for prizes was then held. Travis J. Buckwalter and James D. McKelvey conducted the drawing, assisted by Everett Vanleuven who drew the tickets. Everett was presented with a Piggy Bank, compliments of US Bank, with a few coins inside from Lost River Electric Cooperative for his assistance in the drawing.
The following members were declared elected to serve on the Board of Directors for a term of three years:
DISTRICT NO.1 DISTRICT NO. 2 DISTRICT NO. 3
Travis Buckwalter Wrangler Williams James McKelvey
Lynn O. Rothwell gave the closing prayer. The President declared the meeting adjourned.
Refreshments were then served and the membership spent time visiting.
I, Madeline S. Mocettini-Hansen, Secretary-Treasurer of Lost River Electric Cooperative, Inc., do hereby certify that the above and foregoing is the true and correct minutes of the 2024 Annual Meeting of the Members, held November 6, 2024.
Lost River Electric Cooperative, Inc.
Change in Business Hours
Commencing April 4, 2022
Notice is hereby given that Lost River Electric Cooperative, Inc. will be changing their hours of business beginning April 4, 2022.
Lost River Electric Cooperative, Inc.
Brad J. Gamett, Manager/CEO
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Energy Credits for Green Power
Lost River Electric Cooperative
Green power represents a sale of electricity generated from renewable energy resources by the Cooperative or by our power service provider. RECs represent the environmental benefits derived from renewable energy projects. They are sold as a commodity separately from the electricity. Green power/ RECs are sold in blocks of megawatt-hours (MWh).
REC purchases represent one of the easiest ways for a Consumer to help with carbon reduction. No contractual agreements are needed and no physical implementation is required.
If at any time a Consumer requests to purchase REC certificates from the Cooperative, the Consumer shall contact the Cooperative and will be notified whether those certificates are available. If available, the Consumer shall be charged a fee of $2.00 per MWh. Upon receipt of payment, the Cooperative will contact our power service provider and procure a REC certificate on the Consumer’s behalf.
Criteria for applying:
Applicant Name:
Address: Phone:
Name of College, trade school or certified program you plan to attend: ________________________________________________
Please give a record of your participation in organizations, leadership positions, activities, any offices held, and any awards received during your high school career; and any other out of school activities, awards, or community service to be considered:
________________ ______________
Please list any hobbies or special interests you may have:
Please list any work experiences:
Please attach a (single-sided, one-page, 500-700 words), essay on the Cooperative principle of "Voluntary Open Membership" describing same in your own words.
Signature _________________________________ Date ___________________________________
Lost River Electric Cooperative, Inc. (LREC) is a non-profit power distribution corporation owned by its membership. LREC subscribes to the seven cooperative principles, which guide cooperatives in their organization and business models.
*************************************************************************************************************************************************************
2025 Sophomore and Junior’s ICUA Scholarship
Application ICUA – Youth Rally July 7-11, 2025
All Expenses Paid - $750.00 Scholarship
Criteria for applying:
Applicant Name:
Address: Phone:
Name of College, trade school or certified program you plan to attend: ________________________________________________
Please give a record of your participation in organizations, leadership positions, activities, any offices held, and any awards received during your high school career; and any other out of school activities, awards, or community service to be considered:
________________ ______________
Please list any hobbies or special interests you may have:
Please list any work experiences:
Please attach a (single-sided, one-page, 500-700 words), essay. Lost River Electric Cooperative, Inc. (LREC) is a non-profit power distribution corporation owned by its membership. Please define in your own words what a Cooperative means to you and how does it benefit its members.
Signature __________________________________ Date _______________________________
Lost River Electric Cooperative, Inc. (LREC) is a non-profit power distribution corporation owned by its membership. LREC subscribes to the seven cooperative principles, which guide cooperatives in their organization and business models.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
NOVEMBER 6, 2024
LOST RIVER ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE, INC.
85th ANNUAL MEETING OF THE MEMBERS
At The Mackay High School Auditorium
In Mackay, Idaho6:00 P.M. Registration
7:00 P.M. Business Meeting
MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE MEMBERS
The 85th Annual Meeting of the Members of Lost River Electric Cooperative, Inc. was held at the Mackay High School Auditorium, Mackay, Idaho, on Wednesday, November 6, 2024.
Stephen K. King offered the invocation.
President Randy R. Purser called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM. Secretary Madeline S. Mocettini-Hansen stated that a quorum was present.
A list of those represented in person, by absentee ballot, or credential is on file at the Cooperative office. The first order of business was the reading of the Notice of Meeting. A motion was made by Kim B. Davies Ken Day seconded by Henry L. Adema Jefferson H. Kraczek, that the reading of the notice be waived. Motion carried. The secretary was instructed to annex said Notice of Meeting to the 2017 2024 minutes.
The next order of business was the reading of the 2016 2023 Annual Meeting of the Members minutes. A motion was made by Leola A. Duke, seconded by Albert C. Krause Kenneth M. Day that the reading of the minutes be waived. Motion carried. Secretary was informed to annex said minutes of the 2016 2023 Annual Meeting of the Members to the 2017 2024 minutes. exception of Dean L. Myler, who was absent.
Randy Purser the President and Director representing District 2, then went on to introducede the current Board of Directors:
From District 1, Travis J. Buckwalter, Madeline S. Mocettini-Hansen, Secretary of the Board, and Trent G. Brownlee.
From District 2, the Board Vice President, Susan M. Harris, and Lynn O. Rothwell.
From District 3, James D. McKelvey, Stacey L. Moorman, and Bret L. Zollinger.
After the introduction of Directors President Purser went on to introduce the following guests: Celeste Schwendiman, Account Executive for BPA, Brad Morrison, Transmission Specialist BPA, Robert Hurtig from Electrical Consultants Inc., and Jerry Rigby from Andrus & Rigby Law Office.
Randy Purser thanked on behalf of the Cooperative, the Mackay
School District for use of their facility and Proud Source Water for donation of the water.
Prior to the introduction of nominees Randy Purser gave tribute to Lynn O. Rothwell who was retiring and who had served
the Cooperative for 37 years.
Randy Purser introduced the following 2024 nominees:
From District 1: Jerry Browne, and Travis Buckwalter.
From District 2: Stephanie Leavitt, Joshua Pehrson,
Don Wainright, and Wrangler Williams.
From District 3: James McKelvey.
President Purser continued with the introduction of the election judges and provided to the Members an explanation of the voting procedure for directors.
The ballots for voting for directors as were collected by the judges who retired to tally same.
Vice President Susan M. Harris then presented the Treasurer’s Annual Report. President Randy R. Purser asked if there were any questions. Since there were no questions, the report will stand approved as presented.
ManagerBrad J. Gamett then presented his report to the membership. Manager Gamett started his report by expressing gratitude to Dean Myler who recently passed away as he had served on the Board of Directors. He also gave thanks to the Board for their dedication and appreciation to the LREC employees.
Manager Gamett gave a presentation summing up the 2024 year for the Cooperative and all the recent changes. The report
included three main topics: Safety, Reliability, and Affordability.
Regarding safety, he stated how the Line workers strive to safely keep the system functioning, especially in inclement
weather. The Cooperative strives to keep the employees and the general public safe.
Manager Gamett went on to speak of the reliability of our system and the challenges of facing the energy market regionally
and nationally. Manager Gamett updated the membership on the improvement of outages and meter reading by the advanced
metering system or AMI. He explained the threat of the removal of the Lower Snake River dams and the impact that would have
on the wholesale power industry. The Cooperative has always been an advocate of the dams as they provide clean and reliable
power. The Cooperative has made great strides in system maintenance along with system hardening or wildfire prevention.
The Cooperative works to provide a reliable system through upgrades and pole wrapping and testing. Further, the Cooperative
spends annually between $100,000 to $125,000 on tree trimming. Robert Hurtig, the engineer for the Cooperative, also monitors
the system to see where upgrades are needed and what to be repaired or replaced. In 2022 the Cooperative implemented a Wildfire Mitigation
Plan, to prevent or deter fires and to assist by monitoring the system from ever causing a fire. He discussed how the
Cooperative was wrapping poles to deter damage to the system in case of a fire.
Manager Gamett went on to cover affordability. Manager Gamett spoke of the many energy conservation projects that were
being completed by the members of the cooperative. He spoke about growth and how the number of services has increased.
Manager Gamett explained that due to growth the Cooperative has outgrown our federal allocation and will therefore be going
into tier 2 next year or market-based power. Manager Gamett explained that this year there were credits applied to our
wholesale power cost in 2023, or a Reserve Distribution Credit, however, these credits will not continue. Due to the credits on the
wholesale power costs, the Cooperative was able to have a healthy margin in 2023, allowing the Cooperative to retire $509,722 in
patronage capital. With the increase in wholesale power costs and the increase in materials, supplies, etc., the Board of Directors after
consideration moved to raise the kWh charge by three percent. There will be no increase in the basic facility charge or horsepower charge.
Manager Gamett explained that on a regular farm or home service of 1200 kWh the increase is approximately $2.40.
Manager Gamett then asked the membership questions.
Questions from the membership related to the AMI system, energy credits, and why the Cooperative does not have a generation
resource of its own.
In response to the question regarding AMI, Manager Gamett explained it was the new Automated metering Infrastructure investment into the Cooperative’s system. Along with the basic task of reading meters, it allows the Cooperative to see possible issues prior so we can be proactive
rather than reactive.
He addressed the question of energy certificates by stating that those are credits given for our portion of renewable energy
credits allotted to the Federal Columbia River Hydroelectric System. He further added that the Bonneville Power Association
markets those on our behalf.
Manager Gamett addressed the final topic of why the cooperative does not invest in our own power resource. Manager
Gamett advised members that the Cooperative is a full-service customer of BPA. Full-service customer means that the
Cooperative is obligated by contract to purchase all its energy from Bonneville to receive the low rate that we have. This does
not prohibit our members in any way from doing conservation or generations projects. The Cooperative could change their
contract status with Bonneville, but there would be a lot of costs associated with this, and we still could not compete with
the economies of scale.
Manager Gamett concluded by stating that the Cooperative is in a healthy financial condition, shown by a capital credit
retirement of just over a half a million dollars. This retirement amounts to 5% of the Cooperative’s total distributed
(allocated) patronage balance. Additionally, the rate increase of three percent is only on the kWh, not on the basic facility
charge or the horsepower.
Manager Gamett thanked the members again for attending. President Purser asked if there was any old business. There being none, President Purser asked if there was any new business, there being no new business either, President Purser continued to the drawing for prizes.
The drawing for prizes was then held. Travis J. Buckwalter and James D. McKelvey conducted the drawing, assisted by Everett Vanleuven who drew the tickets. Everett was presented with a Piggy Bank, compliments of US Bank, with a few coins inside from Lost River Electric Cooperative for his assistance in the drawing.
The following members were declared elected to serve on the Board of Directors for a term of three years:
DISTRICT NO.1 DISTRICT NO. 2 DISTRICT NO. 3
Travis Buckwalter Wrangler Williams James McKelvey
Lynn O. Rothwell gave the closing prayer. The President declared the meeting adjourned.
Refreshments were then served and the membership spent time visiting.
I, Madeline S. Mocettini-Hansen, Secretary-Treasurer of Lost River Electric Cooperative, Inc., do hereby certify that the above and foregoing is the true and correct minutes of the 2024 Annual Meeting of the Members, held November 6, 2024.
Lost River Electric Cooperative, Inc.
Change in Business Hours
Commencing April 4, 2022
Notice is hereby given that Lost River Electric Cooperative, Inc. will be changing their hours of business beginning April 4, 2022.
- The Office and Operations Personnel will be available from 7:00 AM to 5:30 PM, Monday through Thursday.
- All Board Meeting will still take place on the fourth Friday of every month, at 8:30 AM. (NO CHANGE)
Lost River Electric Cooperative, Inc.
Brad J. Gamett, Manager/CEO
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Energy Credits for Green Power
Lost River Electric Cooperative
Green power represents a sale of electricity generated from renewable energy resources by the Cooperative or by our power service provider. RECs represent the environmental benefits derived from renewable energy projects. They are sold as a commodity separately from the electricity. Green power/ RECs are sold in blocks of megawatt-hours (MWh).
REC purchases represent one of the easiest ways for a Consumer to help with carbon reduction. No contractual agreements are needed and no physical implementation is required.
If at any time a Consumer requests to purchase REC certificates from the Cooperative, the Consumer shall contact the Cooperative and will be notified whether those certificates are available. If available, the Consumer shall be charged a fee of $2.00 per MWh. Upon receipt of payment, the Cooperative will contact our power service provider and procure a REC certificate on the Consumer’s behalf.