December 5, 2006

Matt Berry - Midwest Electric Inc.

Matt Berry,  Manager of Customer and Community Relations for Midwest, addressed the club and gave an overview of the company's history and shared about their Community Connection Fund Program that serves as a charitable outreach to the surrounding communities.

The company operates as an energy provider is a customer-owned electric cooperative providing electric distribution services to more than 9,700 homes, farms and businesses in Allen, Auglaize, Mercer, Van Wert, Darke, Shelby and Putnam counties.  The company was started in 1936 to serve rural areas that were not provided electric power by other major providers.  There are 900 such co-ops that are customer owned across the US.  

The company operates under the governance of a 9 member board that is comprised of co-op members to set rates, policies, and strategic direction for the company.  It operates under the principle of equity ownership where patronage accounts provide working capital and that capital is returned to members of record after 15 years.  From 1991, $1.2M was returned in 2006.  

In 1998, the company started a charitable fund called the Community Connection Fund.  Monies are generated from the membership where 93% of the members agree to have their monthly bill rounded up to the next highest dollar.  Over $400K has been raised to date and an average of $10K per year is given to eligible organizations each year as decided by the co-op members.  The fund operates with its own Board of Directors and welcomes requests from potential recipients for consideration of receiving a grant from the fund.

Hosting Rotarian: Wayne Lybarger