6.1. SR 08-03-2015 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Afterword — A Future of Growth By Troy Adams, P.E. Elk River Municipal Utilities General Manager I am struck by how past decisions have significantly shaped our community, and the tremendous opportunity that ERMU and our community now enjoy. In 1977, our past leaders took on the challenge to merge the Village and Township of Elk River. Later, our leaders entered into a long- term agreement to provide electric to areas of what is now the City of Elk River. Without this vision, ERMU would have served only a tiny portion of the City of Elk River, and may not even exist. The governance, leadership, and employees of Elk River Municipal Utilities are committed to taking advantage of these opportunities and continue to move forward. Today, ERMU enjoys another opportunity to grow with its city. Significant areas within the City of Elk River are not served by ERMU, but rather by our neighboring electric cooperative, Connexus Energy. By statute (agreed to many years ago by municipal utilities and rural electric cooperatives to help cooperatives finance plants and transmission facilities), a municipal utility such as ERMU has the right to grow with its city. There are sound reasons why: The growth within a city is often driven by infrastructure improvements in roads, water, and wastewater facilities. These investments in our community are paid for by our community. Since the merger, our community has invested millions of dollars into infrastructure. The owners of a municipal electric utility, the customers, should see a return on their investment in the city infrastructure. Growth of our municipal utility also provides improved economies of scale for services, in turn lowering costs to our customers. On March 20, 2015, Connexus Energy and Elk River Municipal Utilities completed a three year electric service territory acquisition negotiation and executed an agreement with the provisions to transfer the remaining approximately twelve square miles (7,680 acres) of Connexus electric service territory within Elk River city limits to ERMU over five years. There are approximately 2,000 existing customers within this area, including commercial and industrial customers along U.S. Highway 10. This is Minnesota's largest electric service territory transfer agreement to date. It is not typical for service territory transfers to come to agreement without litigation or the involvement of the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission. And yet we were able to negotiate mutually beneficial terms, which speaks volumes about both utilities. We are excited for what this electric service territory expansion will bring for our community, and believe that this transition will prove to be a milestone for ERMU—both now and many years from now. As we celebrate our 100th year anniversary, Elk River Municipal Utilities is pleased to serve our community and to celebrate our mutual success. We are public power and water; we are owned by those we serve; we are governed by members of our community. We are thankful for those who have paved the way for us during this past century of service. And we look forward to providing excellent service and a future of growth. 47