Co-op Energy Talk

Courtney Doyle, Cherryland Communications and Member Relations Manager, talks with Cherryland journeyman linemen Kyle Griffin and Brad Norton during April Lineworker Appreciation Month.

Rachel Johnson recaps the March 2026 board meeting, covering the meter replacement project's near completion, new outage reporting and data features, and the system's performance during a winter storm.

Co-op Energy Talk examines how the 2025 northern Michigan ice storm turned into a FEMA case study for Cherryland, the Michigan Electric Cooperative Association, and their members.

Rachel Johnson updates listeners on the February 2026 board meeting, focusing on the restart of Palisades Nuclear Plant and the co-op's performance during winter storm Fern.

Co-op Energy Talk follows Cherryland CEO Rachel Johnson and Communication Controls Field Engineer Zach Endres as they explain how drone inspections help Cherryland keep the lights on.

Rachel Johnson shares five key updates from the January 2026 board meeting, including a new member onboarding email campaign, a strategic impact plan, a board dashboard with KPIs, and progress on new facilities.

Co-op Energy Talk S12E1 explains Cherryland’s new energy waste reduction setup, including a 1.5% annual-sales savings target, about 6 million kilowatt hours, and a compliance surcharge of roughly $2.25 a month for the average member.

["Co-op Energy Talk S11E16, \"By the Numbers: What Cherryland\u2019s KRTA Metrics Reveal,\" focuses on Cherryland\u2019s annual Key Ratio Trend Analysis report.", "Courtney Doyle, Cherryland\u2019s Communications and Member Relations Manager, hosts Cherryland CEO Rachel Johnson and CFO Brad Pawlowski, the people explaining how the metrics are used.", "The episode asks what KRTAs are for: measuring reliability, member rates, and operational efficiency at Cherryland.", "Brad says every distribution co-op files a Form 7 with financial statements, sales data, employee counts, consumer counts, revenue figures, and energy waste reduction numbers.", "He says CFC, the National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation, compiles submissions from about 815 of the country\u2019s 900 co-ops into a 145-ratio report.", "The report covers five years of history and breaks performance into five peer groups, including national, state, consumer size, growth size, and major power supplier.", "Rachel says the August board meeting used this data in depth because Cherryland prefers six to eight actionable ratios over a 145-ratio spreadsheet.", "She says the key question is whether each number helps Cherryland serve members with reliable power, controlled costs, and operational efficiency.", "Rachel also says Cherryland looks at its own five-year trend lines so it does not confuse an industrywide pattern with a Cherryland-specific problem.", "Brad describes a 2023 decision to move some 2024 expenses forward after weak sales so Cherryland would not have two straight mediocre years.", "The controllable-expenses ratio strips out power costs, depreciation, property taxes, and interest, leaving labor, maintenance, right-of-way clearing, and transportation.", "Cherryland\u2019s controllable expenses came in at $343.63 per consumer, ranking 69 of 70 in its consumer-size peer group and 8 of 9 in the state.", "Rachel says the same peer group is closer to roughly $500 to a little under $550 per consumer, which means Cherryland spends about $200 less per consumer each year.", "The electric-revenue-per-consumer ratio shows a similar gap, with Cherryland at about $1,570 a year versus roughly $2,300 in the peer group.", "Brad says Cherryland\u2019s consumer growth rate was 1.45% in 2024, first in the state and 25 of 65 in its consumer-size group, and Rachel links that growth to a new facility that can store transformers and avoid 22-week delays.", "Brad says new metering and SCADA help Cherryland learn about outages faster and reroute power behind the scenes, supporting SAIDI of 65 minutes all-in and 60 minutes for controllable outages versus 267 and 485 minute medians.", "The tone is practical and numbers-heavy, with Rachel and Brad openly saying they like to \"nerd out on metrics\" and comparing growth to \"country mice\" moving beyond Traverse City.", "The style is a straightforward interview with Courtney prompting clear explanations, concrete examples, and member-focused translation of financial ratios into rate and reliability decisions.", "People who care about electric cooperative finance, reliability, and rate-setting will get the most from it.", "Listeners wanting a personal story or entertainment-first conversation will probably skip it."]

Cherryland Electric Cooperative explains the new mandatory MEAP charge on electric bills starting September 2025, ending their opt-out and winter moratorium.

Cherryland Electric Cooperative CEO Rachel Johnson and COO Frank Sipker discuss the co-op's 2025 system upgrades to enhance electric reliability.

Cherryland Electric Cooperative's CEO and board president discuss the past year's challenges and new projects, focusing on cybersecurity and grid resilience.

Cherryland Electric Cooperative CEO Rachel Johnson and Wolverine President Eric Baker discuss the cooperative's plan to achieve 100% carbon-free energy by 2030, highlighting their long-term strategy and commitment to reliability and cost stability.