Operating Expenses & Rate Increase

GM Discusses Operating Expenses & Rate Increase

At the 74th Annual Meeting, Executive Vice President and General Manager Anthony
Mercure welcomed members and thanked them for the opportunity entrusted in him to be
their General Manager.
He discussed that the co-op was in the midst of preparing for the treacherous winter
months ahead, conducting preventive maintenance and winterizing, as necessary, in order to
provide reliable service over the next several months. He encouraged members to do the same.
Mercure went on to explain that NORA is currently conducting a rate study that is expected
to be completed by year end. The consumer member base that NORA serves is 95% residential
to 5% percent commercial, and there was a small increase in kWh from 481 to 486 from last year
until now.
However, the unfortunate reality of living in a small community and the lack of revenue that
a larger commercial footprint might provide combined with factors such as line losses, the constant
need to service aging infrastructure and other operating aspects has led to the announcement of a
rate increase to take effect at the end of the year.
The exact amount of the increase will be decided once the rate
study is completed, however, it is expected to be implemented over
a two-year span and increase around 10% on the system charge
beginning in January 2026 and an additional 10% in January 2027.
Some of the operating aspects that we alluded to earlier include
general inflation and the rising cost of materials, the need to meet
NDSC (Net Debt Service Ceiling) factors in order to maintain
adequate ratios and the ability of NORA to borrow from CFC
(National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation), and the
fact that Tri-State, NORA’s power supplier, will be increasing their
rate by 16% in 2027.