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- What is a Cooperative?
Cooperative
Who Are We?
Lyon-Lincoln Electric is a true cooperative. It is a private, non-profit electric utility owned by the members it serves. Our membership covers a range of home, farm, business and commercial consumers in Lyon and Lincoln counties, as well as portions of Yellow Medicine and Pipestone counties. Your participation is vital to the cooperative’s continued success. It’s the leadership you elect - your Board of Directors - that guides the operation of the cooperative and sets policies that put people first. The members ultimately control the cooperative - people working for people.
Our Sources of Electric Power Lyon-Lincoln Electric, through its ownership in East River Electric Power Cooperative, shares in the ownership and control of Basin Electric Power Cooperative, a cooperative that owns and operates a number of large electric power generating units. Major sources of electric energy for Basin Electric include the Antelope Valley, Laramie River, and Leland Olds Generating Stations. Lyon-Lincoln Electric also obtains a portion of its energy requirements from the Western Area Power Administration, a federal agency that owns and operates 55 hydroelectric power plants in eleven states.
Deferred Patronage Dividends
A cooperative does not have profits, it has “margins” (revenues less expenses equal margins). Since you are one of the owners of the cooperative, part of that margin is yours! The members’ share of margins is called Deferred Patronage Dividends and is determined by how much electricity is used during the year. Each year you will be notified of your share of the margins for the preceding year. Between the time you are notified of your patronage dividend earned and the time it is paid, your investment is used to maintain and improve the electric system to insure your service is the very best possible. Deferred Patronage Dividends cannot be paid back to the members until the financial condition of the cooperative permits. At that time, your Board of Directors, in accordance with Minnesota law, may begin refunding your Deferred Patronage Dividends to you, even if you no longer receive service from the cooperative.